ANDBOOK  OF 
ITHERN  FRANCE 


DAVIS 


^^B  1  2  1924 


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A  Handbook  of  Northern  France 


by 


William  Morris  Davis,  S.D.,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Geology,  Emeritus,  Harvard  University 

Professeur  agree  a  I'Universite  de  Paris,  1911-12 

Chairman,  Geography  Committee,  National  Research  Council 


4  i  ^  ,  I 

Canihridf^*': 
Harvard  University  Press 
.     1918 


COPYRIGHT,  1918 
HARVARD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 


PC 

i5  3:''2i3f 


^ 


\ 


PREFACE 

_  BY  COL.   PAUL  AZAN 

IF  I  were  asked  to  draw  up  a  list  of  the  things  that  an 
American  soldier,  embarking  for  France,  ought  to 
^carry  with  him,  I  should  put  at  the  head  of  it  this  httle 
^book,  not  only  because  the  reading  of  it  will  be  a  pleas- 
ant distraction  on  the  ocean  voyage  and  in  the  trenches, 
y^but  because  a  knowledge  of  its  contents  is  indispensable. 
^     The  American  soldier  will  certainly  wish  to  know 
**  something  of  the  region  in  which  he  is  called  to  serve,  to 
sufifer,  and  perhaps  to  die.    His  friends  also  will  desire 
to  inform  themselves  about  it.    They  will  find  in  this 
^Handbook  a  concise  account  of  northeastern  France, 
^^he  equivalent  of  which  can  be  learned  elsewhere  only 
oby  consulting  a  number  of  general  works  and  special 
articles. 

Xo  one  can  be  better  qualified  than  Professor  Davis 
to  write  such  a  book.  His  lectures  on  France,  as  a  part 
of  his  course  on  Europe  given  at  Harvard  University 
from  1885  to  1912,  have  been  based  not  only  on  a  study 
of  the  best  European  sources,  but  on  many  journeys 
abroad,  during  which  France  has  been  repeatedly 
visited.  Leading  French  geographers  have  honored 
him  with  corresponding  membershii)  in  the  Geograi)hi- 
cal  Society  of  Paris,  and  in  the  Academy  of  Sciences. 


A. 
\\\ 


iv  PREFACE 

If  they  had  had  to  designate  an  American  author  for 
this  Handbook,  their  choice  would  certainly  have  fallen 
on  Professor  Davis.  His  work  in  preparing  the  book  is 
a  service  for  which  the  United  States  and  France  should 
be  equally  grateful  to  him. 

Paul  Azan, 

Lt.-Colonel,  chef  de  la  mission 

Cambridge,  August,  1917.  mHHaire  franQaise 


PREFACE 

BY  THE  AUTHOR 

THIS  Handbook  has  been  written  with  the  approval 
of  the  Geography  Committee,  National  Research 
Council,  for  those  officers  of  our  National  Army  who 
may  wish  to  learn  something  of  the  leading  physical 
features  of  the  brave  country  where  their  aid  will  be  so 
welcome.  If  the  chapters  are  read  over  and  the  geo- 
graphical names  are  identified  on  the  accompanying 
maps,  the  uplands  and  valleys,  rivers  and  cities,  which 
may  otherwise  float  vaguely  "somewhere  in  France," 
will  take  proper  position  with  respect  to  each  other. 
News  from  the  front  and  beyond  and  from  the  country 
that  supports  the  front  will  thus  become  more  definite 
and  intelligible. 

Much  fuller  information  on  French  geography  can  be 
obtained  from  Commandant  Barry's  "  La  Geographic 
Militaire  "  (Paris,  1899),  and  more  especially  from  his 
larger  work,  "  L'Architecture  du  Sol  de  la  France  " 
(Paris,  I'KjIij.  The  historical  aspects  of  the  subject  are 
admirably  treated  in  the  "  Tableau  de  la  Geographic  de 
hi  France  "  (Paris,  191 1 ),  written  })y  Professor  Vidal  de 
hi  lihiclu',  the  leading  geographer  of  his  country,  as  the 
first  volume  of  the  "  Histoire  de  France  "  by  Lavisse. 
For   limited    districts,   reference  should  be   made   to 


vi  PREFACE 

Auerbach's  "Plateau  lorrain "  (1893),  Demangeon's 
"  Picardie"  (1905),  and Blanchard's  "Flandre"  (1906); 
but  modern  works  such  as  these  are  unfortunately  not 
available  for  all  parts  of  France. 

The  geographical  features  of  northeastern  France  and 
the  adjacent  regions  are  by  no  means  so  simple  as  those 
of  an  equal  area  of  our  prairie  states.  The  dominant 
features  —  the  "  upland  belts  "  —  of  the  part  of  France 
here  described  are  of  a  kind  that  is  not  common  in  the 
United  States  and  hence  not  familiar  to  most  Americans. 
They  are  of  vital  importance  in  warfare,  as  is  shown  in 
Johnson's  recent  and  valuable  book,  "  Topography  and 
Strategy  in  the  War."  If  our  officers  wish  to  know 
these  features  as  well  as  they  are  known  by  the  officers 
of  the  German  army,  they  should  study  not  only  the 
condensed  descriptions  of  such  a  Handbook  as  this,  but 
all  other  available  sources  of  information,  particularly 
the  large-scale  maps  that  are  accessible  in  France. 

When  the  uplands  and  valleys  of  the  country  are 
known,  it  is  a  comparatively  easy  matter  to  locate  the 
cities,  villages,  forests,  railways,  and  roads  of  any  dis- 
trict with  respect  to  the  relief  of  the  surface;  and  when 
all  these  facts  are  learned,  military  movements  may  be 
planned  with  respect  to  them.  It  has  not  been  possible, 
however,  to  indicate  the  roads  and  railways  on  the  small 
outline  maps  which  are  here  introduced  as  a  means  of 
locating  the  larger  features  of  the  region;  and  in  order 
that  the  text  shall  not  exceed  a  moderate  number  of 
pages,  space  has  been  allowed  only  for  brief  descriptions 
of  a  few  of  the  most  important  lines  of  transportation. 


PREFACE  vii 

Detailed  information  on  these  matters  must  be  sought 
from  special  sources. 

The  descriptions  here  presented  have  been  prepared 
with  constant  reference  to  the  large-scale  maps  of  the 
French  '' Etat-major  "  from  which  certain  small  rec- 
tangles are  reproduced  on  a  scale  of  1:100,000.  The 
generalized  bird's-eye  views  sketched  from  these  and 
other  maps,  will,  it  is  hoped,  assist  the  reader  in  visualiz- 
ing the  districts  thus  represented;  the  views  are  seen  to 
best  effect  if  the  book  is  laid  flat  and  looked  at  obliquely. 
It  should  be  understood  that  these  sketches  omit  a 
multitude  of  small  features.  Large-scale  maps  should 
always  be  consulted  for  details. 

Certain  sections  of  the  introductory  chapter  as  well 
as  the  whole  of  the  final  chapter  have  been  revised  by 
some  of  my  colleagues,  to  whom  I  am  much  indebted. 
The  interest  in  the  book  shown  by  the  Officers  of  the 
French  Army  at  Harvard  has  been  a  great  encourage- 
ment; and  for  the  prefatory  page  by  Colonel  Paul  Azan 
I  am  under  special  obligations.  To  a  number  of  friends 
who  have  contributed  to  the  fund  by  which  the  publi- 
cation of  a  first  edition  of  the  Handbook  for  free  dis- 
tribution to  army  officers  has  been  made  possible,  my 
sincere  thanks  are  given. 

Many  pleasant  journeys  have  been  recalled  while 
writing  these  pages:  early  visits  to  France  in  1808, 
1873,  and  1878;  a  bicycle  tour  across  northern  France 
in  1894;  personal  excursions  in  1899,  1900,  1903,  and 
1905;  and  university  excursions  in  1908,  1911,  and  1912. 
Now,  at  an  age  when  travel  is  no  longer  so  easy  as  it  was 


viii  PREFACE 

once,  the  author  can  return  only  in  imagination  but 
always  with  deep  sympathy  to  the  fair  landscapes,  long 
familiar,  so  many  of  which  have  been  laid  waste.  May 
the  readers  of  the  book  come  to  share  with  the  writer  a 
warm  affection  for  the  scenes  here  described. 

W.  M.  D. 

Harvard  University, 

Cambridge,  Mass., 

February,  1918. 


CONTENTS 

PAOB 

Preface  by  Col.  Paul  Azan      iii 

Preface  by  the  Author     v 

CHAPTER  I 

A  Gener.\l  Account  of  France 3 

France  and  its  Central  Highlands  —  Boundaries  —  The 
northeastern  frontier — Rivers  and  cities — Rivers  of  the 
northeastern  frontier  —  The  climate  of  France  —  Govern- 
ment—  Public  works:  Roads;  Canals;  Railroads;  Forests; 
Harlx)rs;  Toi)ographic  maps — Money  —  Weights  and 
Measures. 

CHAPTER  II 

The  Geogr.\phical  Features  of  Northern  France  ...     22 

The  Paris  basin  —  The  bordering  uplands  and  highlands  — 

The  four  saddles  —  Products  of  the  highlands  and  the  basin. 

CHAPTER  III 

The  Region  around  Paris 27 

The  three  sectors  centering  at  Paris  —  The  southern  sector 
—  The  eastern  sector  —  The  rocks  and  the  soils  of  the  east- 
ern sector  —  The  northern  sector  —  The  western  salients  of 
the  northern  sector  —  Paris  and  its  neighborhood. 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  Eastern  Hai.i   of  the  Paris  Basin 43 

The  l)eltcd  relief  of  northeastern  France  —  The  upland 
Ik'Hh  uh  natural  defences  —  Varied  features  of  difTercnt  up- 
land \Xi\tM. 

ix 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  V 

The  Vosges  and  the  Adjoining  Regions 52 

The  Highlands  of  the  Vosges  —  Alsace  —  The  uplands  west 
of  the  Vosges  —  The  saddle  of  Langres  southwest  of  the 
Vosges  —  The  sixth  upland  belt. 

CHAPTER  VI 

From  the  Plateau  of  Langres  to  Lorraine 65 

The  fifth  upland  belt;  southern  part  —  The  fifth  upland 
belt;  middle  part  —  The  elbow  of  the  Moselle  —  The  fifth 
upland  belt ;  northern  part  —  The  frontier  on  the  fifth  up- 
land belt  —  The  Woevre  lowland  —  The  fifth  and  the  sixth 
upland  belts;  northernmost  parts. 

CHAPTER  VII 

The  Region  of  the  Meuse 84 

The  fourth  upland  belt;  southern  part  —  The  fourth  up- 
land belt;  northern  part  —  The  underfit  Meuse — 'St.  Mi- 
hiel  and  Verdun  —  The  fourth  upland  belt;  northernmost 
part. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Argonne  and  Champagne 98 

The  third  upland  belt;  its  southern  lowland  substitute  — 
The  forest  of  Argonne  —  The  second  upland  belt;  southern 
part;  the  forest  of  Othe  —  The  second  upland  belt  and 
the  Champagne — The  dry  Champagne  from  the  Seine  to  the 
Aisne  —  The  lowlands  from  the  Aisne  to  the  Oise. 

CHAPTER  IX 

The  First  Upland  Belt 110 

The  scarp  of  the  upland  facing  the  Champagne  lowland  — 
The  battle  of  the  Marne — The  tablelands  north  of  the  Aisne 
—  Contrasts  of  upland  belts  and  tablelands  —  The  Aisne 
front. 


CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER  X 

The  Region  between  the  Upper  Oise  and  the  Somme   .    124 
General  features  of  the  region  —  Rivers  and  cities  —  The 
war  front  from  the  Oise  to  the  Scarpe. 

CHAPTER  XI 

The  Northwestern  Uplands 133 

The  chalk  country  of  Picardy  and  Normandy  —  Villages  and 
roads  —  \'alley  of  the  Seine  —  Exceptional  features  —  The 
clift  coast  along  the  Channel  —  The  bight  of  the  Somme  — 
Lack  of  natural  harbors. 

CHAPTER  XII 

The  Lowl.\nds  of  Northernjiost  France  and  Western 

Belgium 144 

The  lowland,  the  maritime  plain,  and  the  dunes  of  Flanders 
—  The  lowland  —  The  maritime  plain  —  The  dune-bordered 
coast  —  The  people  of  Flanders  —  The  war  front  in  Flanders. 

CHAPTER  XIII 

Regions  North  and  Northeast  of  France 151 

The  .\rdennes  and  beyond  —  The  gorge  of  the  Meuse  —  The 
Uplands  of  Central  Belgium  —  The  Lorraine  plateau  and 
the  adjacent  districts  of  Germany — Southern  part  of  the 
plateau  —  Northern  part  of  the  plateau  —  The  Sarre  coal 
field  —  The  Ilun.sruck  —  The  Luxembourg  embayment  — 
The  gorge  of  the  Moselle  —  The  gorge  of  the  Rhine. 


Index  of  Place  Names 171 


A  HANDBOOK  OF  NORTHERN  FRANCE 


CIL\PTER   I 

A  GENERAL  ACCOUNT  OF  FRANCE 

1.  France  and  its  Central  Highlands.  The  parts  of  western 
Europe  which  through  the  course  of  centuries  have  been 
welded  together  to  form  the  country  we  now  know  as  France, 
the  home  of  a  brave  people  of  an  intense  national  spirit,  may 


Fin.  1.     France  and  the  United  States 

he  dc-cribcd  as  an  irregular  rectangle,  measuring  700  kilo- 
meters north  and  south  by  GOO  kilometers  east  and  west. 
If  superi)osed  on  North  America  in  proper  latitude  it  would 
lie  mostly  in  the  northern  United  States.  Its  area  (including 
the  islaml  of  Corsica,  8747  sq.  k.)  is  53(5,400  s(i.  k.  oi-  207,170 
sq.  miles,  somewhat  more  than  that  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wis- 
consin, and  Iowa  combined,  or  about  midway  between  the 
areas  of  California  and  Texas.     Its  population  has  increased 


4  GENERAL  ACCOUNT 

slowly  from  37,386,313  in  1861  to  39,601,509  in  1911,  and 
thus  equals  eight-ninths  of  that  of  the  United  Kingdom  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  two-thirds  of  that  of  the  German 
Empire,  four-fifths  of  that  of  Austria-Hungary,  and  two-fifths 
of  that  of  the  United  States. 

The  greater  part  of  France  consists  of  lowlands  and  moder- 
ately elevated  uplands.  Lofty  mountains  are  found  only  in 
the  Alps  which  form  the  southeastern,  and  in  the  Pyrenees 
which  form  the  southwestern  frontier.  Between  the  northern 
lowlands  and  uplands  and  the  lowlands  of  the  south  a  grad- 
ual southeastward  ascent  leads  to  the  Central  Highlands 
or  Massif  central,  flooded  in  certain  districts  with  ancient 
lava  flows  and  crowned  with  many  extinct  and  more  or  less 
dissected  volcanoes,  of  which  the  chief  are  Mt.  Dore,  1886 
meters,  and  the  Cantal,  1858  meters.  The  Highlands  reach 
their  greatest  altitude,  1200  to  1400  meters  with  summits  up 
to  1700  meters,  at  the  southeastern  border,  and  there  fall  off 
rapidly  to  the  east,  southeast,  and  south;  the  high  and  deeply 
dissected  southeastern  slope  is  of  mountainous  aspect 
when  seen  from  the  adjoining  lower  lands,  and  is  known  as 
the  Cevennes. 

The  bold  slope  of  the  Central  Highlands  to  the  southeast  has 
exercised  a  marked  influence  on  the  history  of  France.  When  the 
Romans  extended  their  Empire  westward  along  the  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean,  they  founded  a  province  in  the  open  country  that  is 
traversed  by  the  south-flowing  Rhone  between  the  Alps  on  the  east 
and  the  Cevennes  on  the  west:  this  district  is  still  called  Pro- 
vence and  its  language  is  not  French  but  Provencal.  The  stream  of 
invasion  farther  into  Gaul  was  divided  into  two  currents  bj^  the 
Cevennes :  a  smaller  current  flowed  westward  between  the  Central 
Highlands  and  the  Pyrenees  to  the  low  plains  of  the  southwest,  now 
known  as  Gascony ;  a  larger  current  flowed  northward  through  the 
open  valley  of  the  Rhone  to  its  continuation  in  the  plain  of  the  Saone, 
and  thence  northwestward  over  a  saddle  of  higher  ground  to  the 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  FRENCH  LANGUAGE      5 

extensive  area  of  northern  uplands  and  lowlands,  now  kno\\Ti  as  the 
Paris  basin. 

Some  of  the  conquering  invaders  became  colonists.  The  native 
Gauls  gradually  gave  up  their  own  Celtic  language  and  adopted  the 
Latin  of  their  more  civilized  conquerors;  but  as  their  adopted 
speech  had  certain  local  peculiarities,  the  Romans  called  it  lingua 
gallica.  Although  the  smaller  southern  and  larger  northern  areas 
of  the  region  were  confluent  across  a  western  lowland,  they  were 
elsewhere  separated  by  the  Central  Higlilands:  hence,  following  a 
universal  rule,  the  people  of  each  area  came  to  have  certain  ways  of 
speech  of  their  ovai.  For  example,  in  the  south  the  habit  was 
developed  of  using  the  Latin  word,  "  hoc,"  pronounced  oc,  for 
"  yes  ";  hence  the  southern  language  or  Provencal  came  to  be  called 
Langue  d'oc,  and  the  southern  district,  Languedoc.  In  northern 
France,  on  the  other  hand,  the  affirmative  was  formed  from  the 
Latin  words,  "  hoc  ille,"  wliich  in  time  came  to  be  pronounced  oil, 
and  was  later  reduced  to  the  modern  form  oui;  thus  the  speech  of 
the  northern  region  might  be  called  Langue  d'oui.  It  is  chiefly  the 
Central  Higlilands  that  are  responsible  for  tliis  linguistic  division. 

About  the  fifth  century  the  Franks,  a  Teutonic  tribe,  overran  the 
northern  part  of  the  country,  subdued  the  inhabitants  and  adopted 
their  language,  wliich  being  thus  further  modified  from  the  origina 
Latin  was  called  after  the  invaders,  lingua  Jrancisca.  As  the  northl 
ern  region  was  much  the  larger  of  the  two,  it  gathered  the  greater 
population,  and  the  people  of  the  south  were  in  time  dominated 
by  their  relatives  on  the  north.  There  on  a  middle  meridian,  a 
quarter  way  from  the  northern  to  the  southern  limit  of  the  country, 
Paris  grew  to  be  a  great  city,  and  the  language  of  the  north  came  to  be 
the  standard  for  tlie  nation.  Thus  France  today,  peopled  chiefly  by 
the  descendants  of  the  original  Gauls,  of  the  Romans  from  the  south, 
and  of  the  Franks  from  the  north  —  with  the  addition  of  a  Norman 
stock  in  Normandy,  and  of  Britons  in  Brittany  —  has  taken  its 
forma  of  speech  from  the  southern  invaders,  but  the  name  of  the 
countrj'  and  the  name  of  its  people  and  of  its  standard  language 
come  from  the  northern  invaders. 

It  i.s  curious  to  note  that  wlvile  tlie  pccjple  of  the  country  that  thus 
gained  the  name  of  France  call  themselves  and  their  language  by  the 
Latinized  adjective, /ranfais,  we  follow  the  Franks  in  the  Teutonic 


6  GENERAL  ACCOUNT 

habit  of  changing  the  vowel  in  the  substantive  when  making  its 
adjective,  and  therefore  the  English  name  for  the  people  and  the 
language  of  France  is  French. 

2.   Boundaries.    The  boundaries  of  France  may  be  de- 
scribed in  terms  of  their  local  departures  from  a  rectangular 


NORTH   /  r^'^^^ 


SEA 


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Fig.  2.    France  and  the  Adjoining  Countries 

frame  measuring  600  by  700  k.  as  here  shown.  The  north- 
ern boundary  is  bent  outward  170  k.  at  the  middle,  so  as  to 
form  a  northern  salient,  close  to  the  angle  of  which  lies  the 
city  of  Dunkirk  on  the  coast  of  the  North  Sea.  An  irregular 
line  trending  southeast  from  the  angle  forms  the  boundary 
with  Belgium  across  the  low  plains  of  the  district  known  as 


BOUNDARIES  7 

Flanders  and  along  the  southern  slope  of  the  gradually  as- 
cending highland  of  the  Ardennes  to  the  German  frontier, 
described  below.  The  southwestern  line,  following  the  low 
shore  of  Flanders  for  a  short  distance,  soon  reaches  the  clift 
coast  of  an  area  of  uplands,  and  this  is  followed  along  the 
somewhat  sinuous  shore  line  of  the  arm  of  the  sea  which  we 
call  the  English  Channel,  but  which  the  French  know  as  la 
Manche  (the  Sleeve). 

The  first  salient  of  the  sinuous  shore  line  advances  to  Cape 
Gris  Xez,  and  there  reduces  the  Channel  to  its  least  width, 
only  33  k.  across:  it  was  hereabouts  that  Caesar,  B.C.  55, 
made  his  first  crossing  into  Britain,  quod  inde  erat  brevis- 
sirnus  in  Britanniam  trajectus.  In  fine  weather  the  chalk 
cliffs  on  the  farther  side  of  the  Channel  may  be  descried  as 
a  whitish  band  along  the  horizon ;  and  it  is  held  by  some  that 
for  this  reason  England,  as  viewed  from  the  Continent,  has 
gained  the  name  of  Albion.  The  harbor  cities  of  Calais  and 
Boulogne-sur-Mer,  northeast  and  south  of  Cape  Gris  Nez, 
derive  their  chief  importance  from  the  international  ferry 
traffic,  day  and  night,  across  the  Channel  to  Dover  and  Folke- 
stone; thus  the  narrowed  Channel  here  gains  its  English 
name  of  Straits  of  Dover,  and  its  French  name  of  Pas  de 
Calais.  The  western  and  southern  boundaries  are  sufficiently 
shown  on  the  outline  map  on  page  6. 

On  the  east,  the  crest  of  the  southwestern  Alps,  trending  irregu- 
larly north-south,  west  of  which  the  mountains  extend  over  100  k. 
toward  the  Rhone,  forms  the  boundary  with  Italy,  somewhat  ex- 
terior to  the  southern  third  of  the  eastern  side  of  the  rectangle; 
the  greatest  excess  is  in  the  soutli  near  the  coast.  Mt.  Blanc 
(4810  m.),  the  highest  summit  of  the  Alps,  lies  on  the  nortliern 
part  of  this  line,  beyond  whifh  French  and  Swiss  territory  interlock 
in  such  manner  that  the  former  ocoui)ies  most  of  the  southern  side 
of  Lake  Geneva,  wliile  the  city  of  Geneva  is  included  near  the  end 


8  GENERAL  ACCOUNT 

of  a  southwestern  lobe  of  Switzerland  that,  obliquely  Umited  by  the 
northeast-southwest  Jura  highlands,  sharply  indents  the  eastern 
side  of  France. 

3.  The  Northeastern  Frontier.  The  northeastern  boundary 
remains  to  be  described.  Beyond  the  other  land  frontiers  of 
France,  the  near-by  people  of  the  adjoining  nations,  Spain, 
Italy,  Switzerland,  and  Belgium,  have  many  racial  ties  with 
the  French;  they  speak  languages  of  the  same  Romance 
family,  and  most  of  them  (except  in  Switzerland),  like  most  of 
the  French,  profess  the  Catholic  religion.  But  beyond  the 
northeastern  frontier  lies  Germany,  occupied  by  people  of  an- 
other stock,  who  speak  an  altogether  different  language  and  of 
whom  the  dominant  members  are  Protestants.  This  frontier 
has  for  centuries  been  a  battle  ground. 

Between  the  Jura  and  the  Vosges,  the  boundary  runs  north- 
ward across  a  narrow  depression,  the  passage  of  Belfort, 
whence  the  southwestward  drainage  runs  by  the  Doubs  and 
the  Saone  through  the  mid-eastern  lowland  of  France  to  the 
south-flowing  Rhone;  while  the  northeastward  drainage  runs 
by  the  111  to  a  similar  lowland  in  western  Germany,  north- 
ward through  which  flows  the  Rhine.  It  is  from  here  north- 
and  northwestward  that  the  frontier  was  set  back  from  its 
former  position  after  the  Franco-Prussian  war  of  1870.  Be- 
yond the  low  passage  of  Belfort  the  boundary  now  follows 
the  north-south  crest  of  a  short  mountain  range,  known 
as  the  Vosges  (German,  Vogesen),  for  nearly  100  k.,  and 
thus  the  province  of  Alsace,  extending  into  the  lowland  of  the 
middle  Rhine  east  of  the  Vosges  and  including  the  famous 
city  of  Strasbourg  (German,  Strassburg),  was  transferred  to 
Germany  under  the  name  of  Elsass.  Northwest  from  the 
Vosges  the  boundary  runs  arbitrarily  across  the  uplands  to 
the  little  Grand  Duchy  of  Luxembourg  on  the  southern  slope 


THE  NORTHEASTERN  FRONTIER  9 

of  the  Ardennes  highland,  traversing  the  hills  and  valley's,  first 
on  the  east  then  on  the  west  of  the  north-flowing  Moselle,  with 
Uttle  regard  to  local  features;  thus  the  French  province  of 
Lorraine  was  tlivided,  and  a  part  of  it,  including  the  city  of 
Metz  on  the  Moselle  north  of  the  confluence  of  the  INIeurthe, 
was  transferred  to  Germany  under  the  name  of  Lothringen. 
The  Luxembourg  frontier,  narrowed  to  less  than  10  k.  where 
it  faces  France,  is  followed  bj'  that  of  Belgium  along  the  south- 
ern slope  of  the  Ardennes,  bej'ond  which  we  return  north- 
westward across  the  lowlands  to  the  coast  near  Dunkirk, 
where  this  description  began. 

Back  of  the  disputed  northeastern  frontier  the  French 
established  the  strong  fortresses  of  Belfort  near  the  boundary 
in  the  passage  south  of  the  Vosges,  Epinal  on  the  western 
slope  of  the  Vosges,  Toul  on  the  upper  Moselle,  Verdun  on 
the  middle  Meuse,  Mdzieres  on  the  Meuse  near  its  entrance 
into  the  gorge  by  which  it  trenches  the  Ardennes,  and 
Maubeuge,  near  the  border  farther  northwest;  these  for- 
tresses (the  last  two,  unfinished)  will  be  referred  to  again  in 
the  accounts  of  their  several  districts. 

4.  Rivers  and  Cities.  The  northeastern  frontier  of  France 
is  exceptional  in  being  drained  by  rivers  which  flow  through 
foreign  territory  on  their  way  to  the  sea,  as  will  be  detailed 
farther  on.  This  is  nowhere  else  the  case.  A  large  noVthern 
area  —  the  greater  p.nt  of  the  -dcallcd  Paris  basin  ^—  is 
drained  northwestward  to  the  English  (  'Ii.iiiikI  by  the  Seine, 
with  Havre  (population  in  1911,  130,159)  ou  the  northern 
side  of  its  estuary,  Rouen  (124,987)  on  its  right  or  northern 
bank  70  k.  inland,  and  Paris  (2,888,110)  on  both  sides 
of  the  rivci-  near  the  center  of  the  basin,  170  k.  from  the 
sea;  a  number  of  branches  —  Oise,  Aisne,  Marne,  Seine, 
Annen^on,  Yonne,  and  many  smaller  streams  —  converge 


10 


GENERAL  ACCOUNT 


toward  this  center  from  the  northeast,  east,  and  southeast. 
In  the  plains  east  of  Paris,  drained  by  these  rivers,  the 
largest  cities  are  Rheims  (French,  Reims;  115,178)  and 
Troyes  (55,486).  The  Somme,  on  which  Amiens  (93,207)  is  the 


Fig.  3.    The  Rivers  and  Cities  op  Northern  France 

chief  city,  is  the  largest  of  several  smaller  rivers  flowing  north- 
westward to  the  Channel  north  of  the  Seine.  The  eastern 
part  of  the  Central  Highlands  is  drained  northward  through 
open  valleys  by  the  Loire  and  the  Allier;  these  unite  in  a 
trunk  stream  which,  under  the  name  of  Loire,  turns  west- 
ward and  has  the  historic  cities  of  Orleans  (72,096),  Blois 
(population  of  cities  of  less  than  50,000  inhabitants  is  not 


RR'ERS  OF  THE  NORTHEASTERN  FRONTIER      11 

given),  Tours  (73,398),  and  Angers  (83,786)  on  its  banks,  and 
the  port  of  Xantes  (170,535)  at  the  head  of  its  estuary,  which 
opens  to  the  sea  south  of  the  peninsula  of  Brittany. 

5.  Rivers  of  the  Northeastern  Frontier.  We  now  return  to 
the  northeastern  border  of  France,  where  the  French  rivers 
traverse  foreign  territory  in  their  lower  courses.  The  Moselle 
and  the  Meurthe,  flowing  northwestward  from  the  Vosges, 
join  under  the  former  name,  with  the  important  city  of 
Nancy  (119,949)  on  the  ]\Icurthe  10  k.  above  the  conflu- 
ence; then  the  single  river  turning  northward  and  cross-, 
ing  the  boundary  in  an  open  valley  south  of  Metz,  takes 
the  German  name  of  Mosel,  turns  northeast  through  a  deep 
and  winding  valley,  and  joins  the  Rhine  in  the  middle  of  its 
gorge  through  the  broad  highlands  known  as  the  Slate  moun- 
tains (German,  Schicfergebirge) :  at  the  junction  lies  Coblentz, 
a  modernized  form  of  the  Latin  name,  Confluentia;  and 
further  down  the  Rhine  lies  Koln,  which  wc  know  better  in 
its  French  form,  Cologne,  the  modernized  Latin  name  of  the 
Roman  Colonia,  established  nearly  2000  years  ago.  It  was 
from  points  on  the  Rhine  between  these  two  cities  that 
German  strategic  railroads  were  built  westward  along  the 
northern  base  of  the  Slate  mountain  highlands  to  the  frontier 
of  Belgium  near  Liege  (German  Lilttich)  in  the  years  pre- 
ceding the  war,  evidently  in  readiness  for  use  in  the  pre- 
mo(litated  invasion  of  that  neutral  country. 

The  Meuse,  rising  in  the  hills  west  of  the  Vosges,  flows 
north  and  northwest  as  an  almost  branchless  trunk  through 
a  beautiful  winding  valley  in  the  uplands  between  the 
Moselle  on  one  side  and  the  northeastern  tributaries  of  the 
Seine  system  on  the  other;  thus  approaching  the  frontier  on 
the  hilly  southern  border  of  the  Ardennes,  the  Meuse  receives 
the  Chiers  from  the  east,  below  the  junction  of  which  lies 


12  GENERAL  ACCOUNT 

Sedan,  and  the  Sermonne  from  the  west,  with  Mezieres- 
Charleville  on  its  bent  course  near-by:  the  river  then  turns 
north  again  and  trenches  the  broad  highland  of  the  Ardennes 
in  a  deep  and  winding  gorge,  shifting  the  boundary  35  k. 
northward  with  it;  next  bending  northeastward  along  the 
northern  slope  of  the  Ardennes,  and  northward  near  the  east- 
ern border  of  Belgium,  with  Namur  and  Liege  at  the  elbows, 
it  continues  to  and  through  Holland,  where  it  is  called  the 
Maas,  and  finally  joins  the  complex  estuary  of  the  lower 
Rhine. 

In  the  lower  region  farther  northwest,  the  boundary  is  again 
bent  outward,  but  not  so  far  as  on  the  Meuse,  at  the  crossing 
of  three  small  rivers:   the  Sambre,  the  Escaut,  and  the  Lys. 
Here  a  number  of  details  may  be  mentioned,  because  of  their 
importance  in  the  war.    The  Sambre,  flowing  northeastward 
from  the  rolling  uplands  of  a  salient  French  area  in  which  Hes 
the  fortified  city  of  Maubeuge  near  the  point  where  Caesar 
"  overcame  the  Nervii,"  crosses  the  border  and  runs  along  the 
northern  slope  of  the  Ardennes;  Charleroi  in  the  Belgian  coal 
field,  lies  on  its  mid-length;   it  flows  into  the  Meuse  at  the 
Namur  elbow.    The  upper  Escaut,  on  which  Cambrai  and 
Valenciennes  are  situated,  is  joined  in  the  lowland  near  the 
boundary  by  the  Scarpe,  on  which  Arras  and  Douai  are 
placed;    the  Belgian  city  of  Tournai  is  on  the  northward 
course  of  the  Escaut  not  far  beyond  the  boundary;  Mons  lies 
in  Belgium  about  midway  between  Tournai  and  Charleroi. 
The  Lys,  flowing  in  another  lowland  northeastward  across  the 
border,  receives  some  small  branches  from  the  south,  on  one 
of  which  lies  Lille  (217,807),  with  Roubaix  (122,723)  and 
Tourcoing  (82,644)  near-by  in  a  famous  industrial  district; 
Courtrai  lies  on  the  Lys  a  short  distance  in  Belgium;  farther 
on,  Ghent  (Gand)  is  situated  at  the  junction  of  the  Lys  with 


THE  CLIMATE  OF  FK\NCE  13 

the  Escaut,  which  then  turning  eastwarci  with  the  name  of 
Schelde,  turns  north  again  and  then  northwest;  here  it 
expands,  with  Antwerp  (Anvers)  at  the  head  of  the  tide, 
into  an  estuary,  the  southwesternmost  of  several  broadened 
coastal  waterways,  and  reaches  the  sea  by  passing  50  k. 
through  Dutch  territory.  Still  farther  toward  the  northern 
corner  of  France,  the  Yser,  a  small  stream,  flows  eastward 
across  the  boundary,  then  northward  to  the  coast;  Ypres 
lies  on  one  of  its  httle  branches  in  Belgium,  and  Nieuport 
marks  its  mouth  in  the  dunes. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  France  has  only  five  cities  —  Paris,  Mar- 
seilles, Lyons,  Bordeaux,  and  Lille  —  with  populations  over  200,000; 
and  only  ten  more  with  populations  over  100,000,  of  which  Nantes, 
Havre,  Rouen,  Roubaix,  Nancy,  and  Rheims  are  in  the  northern 
half  of  the  country.  The  population  of  Paris  is  about  as  great  as 
that  of  the  fourteen  other  French  cities  which  exceed  100,000. 

6.  The  Climate  of  France.  The  climate  of  France  is  much 
more  temperate  than  the  climate  of  an  area  of  the  same  lati- 
tude in  central  or  eastern  North  America.  The  prevailing 
winds  come  from  the  west  and  bring  with  them  the  tempering 
influences  of  the  ocean;  moreover,  they  come  somewhat  from 
the  southwest  in  winter  and  thus  diminish  the  cold,  and  some- 
what from  the  northwest  in  summer  and  thus  moderate  the 
heat  which  would  otherwise  be  felt.  The  mean  temperature 
in  January  (from  6°  C.  =  43°  F.  in  the  south  to  2°  C.  =  36°  F. 
in  the  northeast)  corresponds  to  that  of  North  Carolina  and 
northern  (leorgia  or  of  Arkansas  and  Oklahoma  in  the  same 
nujnth.  W'intor  weathfr  is  frequently  cloudy  and  wet;  hence 
the  air  is  chilhiig  though  the  temperature  is  not  very  low.  The 
coldest  winter  winds  are  from  the  continental  interior  on  the 
northeast.  The  mean  temperature  in  July  (from  24°  C.  = 
75°  F.  in  the  southeast  to  18°  C.  =  64°  F.  in  the  northwest) 


14  GENERAL  ACCOUNT 

corresponds  to  the  July  mean  of  southern  Pennsylvania  and 
Ohio  or  of  Wisconsin  and  North  Dakota.  The  extremes  of 
both  seasons  are  less  in  France  than  in  the  central  United 
States. 

The  annual  rainfall  varies  from  500  to  1000  millimeters  (20 
to  40  inches),  corresponding  in  general  terms  to  that  of  eastern 
Nebraska  and  Iowa.  Snowfall  is  rarely  heavy,  even  in  the 
north;  and  as  the  winds  that  follow  snow  storms  usually  come 
from  the  ocean  at  a  temperature  above  freezing,  snow  seldom 
lies  long  on  the  ground.  Weather  changes,  including  the  large 
cloudy  areas  of  low  barometric  pressure  with  shifting  winds 
and  rain  or  snow,  as  well  as  the  smaller  thunder  storms  of 
summer,  advance  in  a  general  way  from  southwest  to  north- 
east, as  in  the  eastern  United  States;  but  the  tracks  of  low- 
pressure  centers,  which  often  traverse  the  United  States, 
usually  pass  to  the  north  of  France  in  spite  of  its  relatively 
high  latitude;  hence  France  more  often  receives  the  southerly 
than  the  northerly  winds  that  spiral  around  such  centers. 

The  climate  of  northern  and  central  France  is  fitting  for  wheat 
and  other  grains.  Through  the  southeastern  half  of  the  country  the 
vine  is  extensively  cultivated  and  wine  of  many  kinds  is  produced 
in  great  amount.  In  the  extreme  southeast  the  fig,  the  olive,  and  the 
orange  flourish.  Most  of  the  common  trees  are  of  familiar  kinds: 
they  include  oaks,  maples,  elm,  beech,  birch,  chestnut,  pine,  ash, 
poplar,  and  willow.  The  genet  or  broom-plant  is  abundant  in 
uncultivated  fields;  heather  prevails  in  moorland  districts. 

7.  Government.  France  was  a  kingdom  for  centuries  under 
the  Orleans  and  Bourbon  dynasties  before  the  First  Republic 
was  established,  following  the  terrible  revolution  which  began 
in  1789.  The  republic  was  replaced  by  the  First  Empire  under 
Napoleon  in  1804.  In  1814  the  kingdom  was  restored  under 
the  Bourbon  dynasty,  and  continued  with  a  short  interruption 


GOVERNMENT  15 

due  to  the  return  of  Napoleon  in  1815  (Louis  XVIII,  1814, 
Charles  X,  1824)  until  the  revolution  of  1830,  when  the  Bour- 
bons were  replaced  by  Louis  Philippe  of  the  Orleans  dy- 
nasty. Another  revolution  in  1848  caused  the  abdication  of 
Louis  Philippe  and  the  institution  of  a  second  Republic,  with 
Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  nephew  of  the  first  emperor, 
chosen  as  president  by  popular  vote.  Four  years  later  the 
president  of  the  republic  took  the  title  of  Napoleon  III,  and 
the  Second  Empire  was  established.  This  lasted  until  the 
surrender  of  the  Emperor  to  the  Germans  at  Sedan  in  1870, 
when  a  revolutionary  government  established  itself  in  Paris 
and  subsequently  inaugurated  the  third  Republic,  which  has 
now  endured  longer  than  any  form  of  government  since  the 
old  kingdom. 

The  Government  thus  constituted  includes  a  Chamber  of 
Deputies  with  nearly  600  members  elected  by  universal 
(male)  suffrage  everj^  four  years,  and  a  Senate  of  300  mem- 
bers who  are  chosen  by  electoral  colleges,  consisting  of  local 
deputies  and  other  officials,  for  nine  years  in  three  groups,  one 
group  every  three  years.  Legislation  may  be  initiated  or 
amended  in  either  body,  but  must  be  passed  by  both.  The 
president  of  the  Republic  is  elected  for  seven  years  by  the 
senators  and  deputies  in  joint  session,  known  as  the  constitu- 
tional a.ssembly ;  these  elections  are  not  preceded  by  a  popular 
campaign,  but  are  accomplished  promptly  when  a  presidential 
term  lapses,  or  is  closed  by  resignation  or  death.  The  presi- 
dents of  the  third  republic  have  been  Thiers,  1871;  Mac- 
Mahon,  1873;  Grc'-vy,  1879;  Carnot,  1887;  Casimir-P^-rier, 
l.V.M;  Faure,  1895;  Loubet,  1899;  FailkVes,  1900;  Poincard, 

1913. 

The  president  is  supported  by  a  cabinet  or  ministry 
{ministere)  the  members  of  which  {ministres)  arc  selected  by  a 


16  GENERAL  ACCOUNT 

political  leader.  The  chief  members  are  the  ministers  of 
finance,  war,  marine,  interior,  justice,  foreign  affairs,  colonies, 
public  instruction,  etc.  The  ministry  represents  the  domi- 
nant group  or  bloc  of  parties  in  the  chamber  of  deputies;  the 
ministry  usually  resigns  when  its  policy  is  defeated  by  the 
chamber,  and  another  leader  is  then  selected  by  the  president 
to  form  a  new  ministry.  Thus  the  ministry  does  not  repre- 
sent the  policy  of  the  president,  as  the  cabinet  does  in  the 
United  States,  nor  of  a  single  political  party,  but  of  the 
people  as  reflected  by  a  majority  of  the  deputies,  temporarily 
united  in  a  hloc  or  coalition  of  several  parties. 

France  was  formerly  divided  into  some  thirty  provinces,  such  as 
Provence,  Gascony,  Champagne,  Normandy;  it  is  now  divided 
into  eighty-seven  departments,  from  wliich  deputies  are  elected. 
The  departments  are  usually  named  after  the  rivers  that  they  partly 
include,  as  Aisne,  Oise,  Seine  et  Marne,  Meurthe  et  Moselle.  The 
administration  of  each  department  is  in  charge  of  a  prefect,  who  is 
appointed  by  the  president  of  the  republic  on  the  recommendation 
of  the  minister  of  the  interior.  The  departments  are  divided  into 
362  arrondissements,  and  these  into  2915  cantons  and  over  36,200 
communes. 

The  chief  external  possessions  of  France  are  Algiers  and  Tunis  in 
north  Africa;  several  large  equatorial  provinces  in  Africa  south  of 
the  western  Sahara  and  north  of  the  Congo;  Madagascar,  the  large 
island  east  of  southern  Africa;  Indo-China,  south  of  China  proper; 
and  New  Caledonia  and  the  Society  Islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

8.  Public  Works:  Roads.  The  excellent  highways  of  France 
(Routes  nationales,  Routes  departementales)  are  among  the  most 
conspicuous  of  the  many  excellent  products  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Public  Works.  The  pressing  need  of  a  great  highway 
system  in  the  United  States  can  be  better  understood  after  a 
visit  to  France.  The  Routes  Nationales  are  so  planned  as  to 
provide  thoroughfares  connecting  all  the  important  centers 


PUBLIC  WORKS  17 

of  population.  The}'  are  carefully  located  and  excessive 
gradients  are  avoided;  for  over  a  century  they  have  con- 
tributed greatly  to  the  thrift  of  rural  France.  It  not  infre- 
quently happens  that  a  modern  road  follows,  for  a  greater  or 
less  distance,  an  ancient  Roman  road,  traces  of  which  may 
still  be  recognized  even  where  it  is  abandoned.  The  less 
important  local  roads  are  in  the  care  of  the  communes  that 
they  sei-ve. 

Each  main  road  has  a  name,  as  Route  de  Paris  a  Nancy,  which  is 
repeatedly  given  on  signs  along  its  course.  Distances  are  accurately 
indicated  on  the  national  roads  by  larger  stones  at  every  kilometer, 
and  by  smaller  stones  at  every  tenth  of  a  kilometer.  Trim  heaps  of 
broken  stone,  ready  for  mending  the  surface,  are  —  at  least  in  times 
of  peace  —  characteristic  features  of  the  unfenced  roadside.  Village 
names  are  indicated,  together  with  the  department  and  arrondisse- 
ment  to  which  they  belong,  on  signs  at  the  entrance  of  the  main 
roads.  The  rule  of  the  road  is,  as  in  the  United  States,  "  turn  to  the 
right,"  and  not  as  in  Great  Britain,  "  turn  to  the  left." 

Canals  follow  many  of  the  larger  valleys.  They  are  so 
located  as  to  afford  communication  not  only  along  each  main 
river  valley,  but  also  over  low  passes  between  the  valleys  of 
neighboring  river  systems.  They  not  infrequently  pass  under 
divides  in  tunnels  two  or  three  kilometers  in  length.  Canals 
are  supplemented  by  navigable  rivers,  improved  by  dams  and 
locks.  Chains  laid  along  the  bed  of  certain  rivers  are  passed 
over  a  drum  on  tow-boats  and  arc  thus  used  to  drag  barges 
against  the  current.  Although  supplanted  by  railways  as  a 
means  of  rapid  transportation,  the  canals  still  have  a  large 
value  in  keeping  flown  the  charges  for  slow  freight. 

Railways,  some  of  which  are  owned  by  the  State,  are  of  two 
gauges;  standard,  1.44  m.  (4  ft.  8J  in.)  and  narrow,  1  m.;  the 
latter  are  for  local  .service  on  branch  lines  of  light  traffic. 
Kailways  are  so  numerous  that  they  cannot  be  shown  on 


18  GENERAL  ACCOUNT 

the  small  maps  in  this  book.    The  strength  of  bridge  construe 
tion  over  or  under  railways  and  the  number  and  height  c 
railway  viaducts  are  impressive.    The  frequent  use  of  skewei 
arches  of  stone  or  brick  is  surprising  to  visitors  from  a  countr; 
where  square  bridges  of  wood,  steel,  or  concrete  prevail. 

Passenger  cars  (wagons)  for  local  service  are  of  small  length 
divided  into  transverse  compartments,  entered  at  either  side;  ir 
trains  of  such  cars  one  cannot  pass  from  compartment  to  compart- 
ment, much  less  from  car  to  car.  On  express  trains,  longer  cars 
connected  by  "  vestibules  "  and  divided  into  compartments  with  a 
corridor  on  one  side,  are  generally  used,  but  these  also  have  doors  on 
both  sides,  sometimes  for  each  compartment.  The  cars  or  compart- 
ments are  of  three  classes;  the  class  chosen  {jpremiere,  seconde  (pron. 
segonde),  troisieme)  must  be  specified  when  buying  a  ticket.  Tickets 
are  usually  examined  as  the  passenger  goes  from  the  waiting  room 
to  the  platform,  and  collected  as  he  leaves  the  station  of  desti- 
nation. 

Forests.  Certain  forests  in  France  are  under  governmental 
care,  as  timber  is  of  high  value  in  a  country  of  ancient  occupa- 
tion. Many  of  the  forested  areas  are  located  on  uplands  of 
relatively  infertile  soil,  or  of  so  uneven  a  surface  as  to  make 
their  use  difficult  for  other  purposes  than  tree-growing. 
Most  of  the  forests  are  traversed  by  many  rectilinear  lanes, 
laid  out  in  geometrical  pattern  so  as  to  intersect  at  selected 
centers,  and  used  in  exploitation  of  timber. 

Harbors.  Harbor  works  are  extensive  and  elaborate.  They 
are  to  be  seen  at  all  the  ports  along  the  clift  coast  of  Nor- 
mandy and  Picardy,  and  along  the  dune-bordered  coast  of 
Flanders,  where  they  include  jetties  to  prevent  the  closing 
of  the  harbor  entrance  by  the  'long-shore  drift  of  sand  and 
gravel,  and  stone  wharves  adjoining  dredged  docks. 

Topographic  maps.  The  topographic  map  of  the  general 
staff,  Carte  de  France  de  V Etat-major ,  is  the  standard  on  which 


TOPOGRAPHIC  MAPS  19 

all  other  modern  maps  of  France  are  based.  It  is  the  work  of 
army  engineers  begim  in  1818,  finished  in  1866,  revised  in 
later  years,  and  published  by  the  Geographical  Service  of  the 
Army  in  274  sheets  on  a  scale  of  1 :  80,000  (8  kilometers  =  1 
decimeter,  or  about  1  mile  =  f  inch).  Another  edition  of  the 
same  survej',  revised,  is  published  in  quarter-sheets  on  a  scale 
of  1 :  50,000.  Selected  rectangles  from  the  1 :  50,000  quarter- 
sheets  are  here  reproduced  on  half-scale  (1:100,000,  or  1  cm. 
=  1  k.)  on  pages  60,  74,  78,  90,  94, 118,  126,  160;  their  location 
is  shown  by  small  rectangles,  with  page  numbers,  in  the  maps 
on  pages  28,  54,  67,  134. 

These  maps  are  printed  in  bhu-k.  Relief  is  well  indicated  by  down- 
slope  lines,  or  hachures,  which  are  drawn  short,  heavy,  and  close-set 
for  steep  slopes,  long,  fine,  and  open-spaced  for  gentle  slopes.  Flood- 
plains  subject  to  overflow  are  stippled;  small  streams  are  shown  by 
single  waving  lines;  larger  streams  bj^  double  lines  with  the  included 
space  shaded:  forests,  nearly  all  of  which  have  special  names,  by 
conventional  tree-signs;  roads,  by  double  lines  with  unshaded  space 
between,  three  grades  of  importance  being  indicated  by  the  width 
of  the  space  (rows  of  trees  adjoining  the  national  roads  are  shown  by 
dots);  lanes,  by  single  hnes;  paths,  by  dotted  Unes;  railways  by 
single  heavy  lines;  canals,  by  three  close-set  hnes,  the  middle  line 
heaviest.  Altitudes  are  given  in  meters  for  occasional  points. 
Cities  and  villages  are  shown  with  the  pattern  of  their  chief  streets. 
Boundaries  of  departments  are  marked  with  strong  short-dash  lines, 
the  .seat  of  their  prefecture  being  marked  with  a  small  rectangle 
containing  the  letters  PF;  boundaries  of  cantons  are  marked  with 
dotted  lines,  the  name  of  their  chief  town  being  adjoined  by  a  small 
oval  containing  the  letters  CT. 

Mai)s  l)a.sed  on  a  later  survey  along  the  northeastern  frontier  have 
been  jirepared  on  a  scale  of  1:20,0(J0,  with  altitudes  shown  b}'  con- 
tour lines  of  5  m.  interval;  the.se  sheets  are  printed  in  several 
colors;  they  are  not  sold  to  the  public. 

Reductions  of  the  standard  80,000th  map  have  been  pub- 
lished on  smaller  scales  and  in  various  styles  by  several 


20  GENERAL  ACCOUNT 

departments  of  the  government.  Those  prepared  by  the  Geo- 
graphical Service  of  the  Army  and  by  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Works  are  both  on  a  scale  of  1 :  200,000;  the  first  in  78  sheets, 
the  second  in  135.  The  maps  of  the  Geographical  Service  are 
very  legibly  printed  in  five  colors;  the  relief  in  brown  shad- 
ing with  20  m.  sketched  contours,  the  water  in  blue,  forests 
in  green,  names  and  railways  in  black,  towns  and  highways 
in  red.    These  maps  are  the  most  serviceable  for  general  use. 

9.  Money.  French  money  is  reckoned  in  francs  and  centimes.  A 
franc  is  normally  worth  $0.19;  five  centimes  or  a  sou  is  about  equiva- 
lent to  a  cent;  10  centimes  or  two  sous,  to  an  English  penny.  Five 
francs  are  almost  the  same  as  a  dollar,  and  25  francs  are  closely 
equivalent  to  a  pound  sterling. 

French  coins  are :  copper;  5  centimes  or  1  sou ;  10  centimes  or  2 
sous, 
silver;  50  centimes  =  10  sous  or  half  a  franc; 
1  franc;  2  francs;  5  francs. 
[Note  :  Many  Belgian  and  Italian  silver  coins,  nominally 
equivalent  to  French  money,  do  not  pass  at  their  face 
value.) 

gold;  10  francs;  20  francs  =  a  napoleon. 
English  money :  12  pennies   =  1  shilling  =  $0.24. 
20  shillings  =  1  pound    =  $4.84. 
(21  shillings  =  1  guinea), 
English  coins  are:  copper;  half  penny;  penny. 

silver;  threepence;  sixpence;  shilling;  two 
shillings  (florin) ;  two  and  a  half  shillings 
(half  crown);  five  sliillings  (crown), 
gold;   10  shillings  (half  sovereign);  20  shil- 
lings (sovereign). 
Weights  and  Measures.    The  decimal  system  of  weights  and 
measures,  adopted  by  the  French  near  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century  and  by  most  countries  of  Europe  since  then,  is  based  on  the 
unit  of  linear  measure,  or  meter  (metre),  which  was  intended  to  be 
and  is  almost  exactly  1/10,000,000  of  the  meridian  quadrant  of 
Paris.    It  equals  39.37  inches  or  3.28  feet.    Its  multiples  and  frac- 
tions and  their  equivalents  are:  — 


MONEY,  WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES  21 

Linear  measure.  Meters.  Inches.  Feet.  Miles. 

kilometer 1000  ....     3281  0.62138 

hectometer 

decameter 

meter 

decimeter 

centimeter 

millimeter .001       0.04  0,003 


00 

328.1 

10 

.... 

32.81 

1 

39.37 

3.281 

.1 

3.94 

0.328 

.01 

0.39 

0.033 

One  kilometer  is  roughly  f  or  |  of  a  mile. 

Areas  are  expressed  in  square  meters  =  1550.0  square  inches,  or 
10.76  square  feet;  in  ares  =  100  square  meters;  and  in  hectares  = 
10,000  square  meters  =  2.471  acres;  hence  260  hectares  about 
equal  one  square  mile. 

A'olumes.  The  unit  of  volume  is  a  cubic  decimeter,  called  a  liter 
(litre)  =  61.02  cubic  inches  =  1.06  U.  S.  quarts  =  0.88  British 
quart. 

Weights.  The  ordinary  unit  of  weight  is  the  kilogram,  whicli  is 
the  weight  of  a  liter  of  water  under  standard  conditions  =  2,205 
pounds. 

Temperatures.  The  Centigrade  thermometer  scale  has  0°  at  the 
freezing  point  and  100°  at  the  boiling  point  of  water,  under  stand- 
ard conditions.  To  convert  Centigrade  into  Fahrenheit  degrees, 
multiply  by  -^  and  add  32°.  To  convert  Fahrenheit  into  Centigrade 
degrees,  subtract  32°  and  multiply  by  ^. 

Atmospheric  Pressure.  French  weather  maps  represent  atmos- 
pheric pressure  in  millimeters:  normal  pressure  is  taken  to  be 
760  mm.  =  29.92  inches. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  FEATURES  OF  NORTHERN 

FRANCE 

10.    The  Paris  Basin.    The  greater  part  of  northern  France 
is  occupied  by  the  so-called  Paris  basin,  which  gains  its  name 


Fig.  4.     The  Paris  Basin  and  its  Saddles 

from  the  basin-like  slope  of  the  rock  layers  from  all  sides 
towards  Paris  as  a  center.     The  relation  between  the  rock 

22 


THE  PARIS  BASIN  23 

layers  and  the  surface  forms  here  occurring  is  moreover  in 
many  ways  so  manifest  and  so  significant,  that  an  understand- 
ing of  it  aids  the  memory  in  placing  a  multitude  of  details  in 
their  proper  position  with  respect  to  the  larger  features  of 
which  they  are  parts. 

The  Bordering  Uplands  and  Highlands.  The  stratified 
formations  occupying  the  Paris  basin  lie,  with  a  total  thick- 
ness of  hundreds  or  thousands  of  meters,  upon  a  foundation  of 
ancient  and  disordered  rocks  which  emerge  in  four  upland 
or  highland  areas  of  unequal  size  around  the  basin  borders 
as  shown  in  Fig.  4:  these  are  the  Armorican  area  on  the  west, 
which  includes  the  peninsula  of  Brittany  and  an  adjoining 
part  of  the  mainland,  the  extensive  Central  Highlands  on  the 
south,  the  \'osges  (German,  Vogesen)  of  comparatively  small 
area  on  the  east,  and  the  Ardennes  with  their  eastern  exten- 
sion into  the  Slate-mountain  highlands  (German,  Schiefer- 
gebirge)  on  the  northeast.  It  is  highly  probable  that  the 
strata  of  the  Paris  basin,  shown  in  section  across  the  middle  of 
Fig.  4,  once  overlapped  the  four  areas  of  ancient  foundation 
rocks  much  farther  than  they  do  now,  and  that  they  have  been 
worn  back  because  those  areas  are  regions  of  upheaval;  the 
Paris  basin,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  region  of  relative  depres- 
sion, where  the  covering  strata,  broadly  overspreading  the 
di.sordered  foundation  rocks,  have  been  preserved;  the  oldest 
members  of  the  basin  series  crop  out  around  the  margin  of 
the  basin,  the  youngest  member  occupies  its  center. 

The  8ucces.sive  .strata  ma}'  tliercAjre  be  coinjxircd  t(j  a  nest  of  very 
shallow  di.shes,  tho  largest  one  at  the  ba.se,  the  smallest  at  the  top, 
yet  Hi)  nicely  fitted  together  that  the  edges  of  all  ri.se  to  about 
the  same  aititud**.  Jiut  the  basin  stnietiire  has  many  irregularities: 
Paris  lies  near  its  center,  and  ihr-  edges  of  the  succes.sive  formations 
are  farther  apart  on  the  eaat  side  than  on  the  west;  indeed,  the  basal 


24  GEOGRAPHICAL  FEATURES 

members  of  the  series  that  are  broadly  exposed  along  the  border  of 
the  Vosges  and  in  Lorraine  are  hardly  seen  elsewhere;  and  to  the 
north,  the  lower  members  are  overspread  by  an  upper  member  — 
the  chalk  —  so  far  that  they  are  concealed  as  it  laps  upon  the 
foundation  rocks  which  ascend  gradually  eastward  in  the  Ardennes. 

IL  The  Four  Saddles.  Moreover,  as  may  be  seen  in  Fig.  4, 
the  basin  strata  extend  outward  across  the  four  depressions  or 
"  saddles  "  that  separate  the  four  enclosing  uplands  of  ancient 
rocks.  A  broad  and  flat  northwestern  saddle,  forming  the 
chalk  uplands  of  Picardy  and  Normandy,  occupies  the  330  k. 
space  between  the  Ardennes  highlands  on  the  north  of  the 
basin  and  the  hilly  Armorican  area  on  the  west;  the  north- 
western side  of  this  saddle  is  cut  off  by  the  sea.  A  narrow 
southwestern  saddle,  about  60  k.  across,  lies  between  the 
Armorican  area  on  the  west  and  the  Central  Highlands  on  the 
south,  and  thus  connects  the  Paris  basin  with  the  lowlands  of 
Gascony :  this  may  be  called  the  Poitou  saddle,  after  the  old 
province  of  that  district.  A  broader  southeastern  saddle, 
150  k.  in  width,  rises  gradually  and  forms  the  so-called  plateau 
of  Langres,  between  the  Morvan,  a  northeastern  extension  of 
the  Central  Highlands,  on  one  side,  and  the  much  smaller 
mountainous  mass  of  the  Vosges  on  the  other;  its  steeper 
southeastern  side,  the  southern  part  of  which  is  known  as  the 
"  Golden  Slope  "  {la  Cote  d'Or),  with  Dijon  near  its  base, 
descends  rapidly  to  the  flat  basin  of  the  Saone,  known  as  the 
plain  of  la  Bresse.  The  fourth  and  northeastern,  or  Lorraine 
saddle,  broadly  exposing  the  lowest  members  of  the  basin 
series,  has  a  width  of  75  k.  between  the  Vosges  on  the  east  and 
the  Slate-mountain  highlands  on  the  north;  this  saddle 
stretches  eastward  into  Germany  and,  rising  gradually,  is 
obliquely  cut  off  by  the  broad  valley-lowland  of  the  middle 
Rhine;  its  eastern  upland  border,  prolonged  northward  from 


PRODUCTS  OF  HIGHLANDS  AND  BASIN  25 

the  \'osges  and  overlooking  the  Rhine  lowland,  is  known  as 
the  Hardt. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Seine  and  its  branches  drain 
only  a  part  of  the  Paris  basin.  In  the  northwest,  several  small  rivers 
—  the  Somme  and  others  on  the  northeast  of  the  Seine,  the  Risle, 
Touque,  Dives,  and  Orne  on  the  southwest  —  have  independent 
courses  to  the  Channel.  In  the  northeast,  the  Aleuse  and  the 
Moselle  flow  out  from  the  border  of  the  basin  through  the  adjoining 
uplands  to  the  Rhine.  In  the  south,  the  Loire,  after  emerging  from 
the  Central  Highlands,  turns  westward  across  the  southern  part  of 
the  basin,  receives  certain  tributaries  —  chiefly  the  Loir  and  the 
Sarthe  —  from  the  western  part  of  the  basin,  as  well  as  others  from 
the  south,  and  reaches  the  sea  south  of  Brittany. 

12.  Products  of  the  Highlands  and  the  Basin .  The  Paris  basin,  dif- 
fering from  the  enclosing  uplands  and  highlands  in  the  composition 
and  attitude  of  its  rocks,  therefore  differs  also  in  form,  soil,  and  min- 
eral products.  The  uplands  and  highlands  consist  of  granite,  gneiss, 
schists,  and  other  crystalline  rocks,  generally  resistant  to  weathering, 
as  well  as  of  various  stratified  rocks,  greatly  deformed,  much  more 
ancient  than  those  of  the  Paris  basin,  and  usually  more  indurated. 
Coal  is  found  within  the  boundaries  of  France  only  in  these  ancient 
foundation  rocks:  the  Central  plateau  includes  the  important 
though  small  coal  basin  of  St.  Etienne  in  a  vallej-  that  indents  the 
middle  of  its  eastern  side,  southwest  of  Lyons;  not  far  north  in 
another  highland  valley  is  Le  Creuzot,  with  its  great  iron  works. 
Another  important  coal  area,  known  as  the  Sarre  (German,  Soar) 
ba-sin  after  the  branch  of  the  Moselle  which  it  borders,  lies  in  Ger- 
man territorj',  a.s  shown  on  j).  158,  south  of  the  Slate-mountain 
uplands  bj'  which  the  Lorraine  saddle  is  limited  on  the  north.  The 
extensive  coal  basin  of  Belgium,  shown  on  p.  153,  lies  along  the 
northern  side  of  the  Ardcimes,  and  extends  westward  under  the 
cover  of  the  overlapping  basin  strata  into  northern  France,  where  its 
deep  mines  determine  the  situation  of  a  number  of  industrial  cities, 
of  which  the  chief  an;  iJouai  and  Lens.  Iron  ore  occurs  in  several 
districts  of  the  ancient  foundation  rocks,  esp(!cially  in  the  northern 
arm  of  the  Armorican  area,  known  as  the  Cotentin ;  hence  important 
kon  works  have  been  established  near  by  in  the  ancient  city  of  Caen. 


26  GEOGRAPHICAL  FEATURES 

The  strata  of  the  Paris  basin  include  limestones,  chalk,  marls, 
sandstones,  and  clays,  all  lying  nearly  horizontal.  Certain  members 
of  the  series  contain  important  iron  ores;  the  chief  of  these  lie  in  the 
uplands  west  of  Metz,  and  largely  in  a  part  of  Lorraine  that  was 
taken  by  Germany  in  1871  (see  p.  77).  But  as  a  rule  the  strati- 
fied formations  yield  few  important  mineral  products,  apart  from 
building  stones,  limestone,  cement,  gypsum,  and  road  metal.  The 
best  building  stones  are  limestones  and  sandstones,  which  are  easily 
carved  when  fresh  from  the  quarry,  but  which  become  hard  and 
durable  after  exposure  to  the  weather.  Flint  concretions  from  the 
chalk  provide  a  resistant  road  cover. 

As  the  basin  strata  outcrop  in  northeastern  France  in  roughly 
concentric  arcs,  or  aureoles,  Fig.  13,  around  Paris  as  a  center,  the 
varied  forms  of  the  surface,  modelled  by  the  action  of  erosional  proc- 
esses on  the  nested  strata  of  varying  resistance,  as  well  as  the  soils 
and  with  them  the  agricultural  products  of  the  basin  area,  are 
closely  sympathetic  with  the  patterns  of  the  concentric  structural 
arcs;  likewise,  local  industries  as  affected  by  soils  and  products, 
drainage  lines  and  transportation  routes  as  affected  by  surface 
forms,  and  population,  both  rural  and  urban,  as  affected  by  all  these 
elements,  are  repeatedly  found  to  be  influenced  if  not  controlled  in 
their  distribution  by  the  same  structural  factors,  as  will  be  fully 
shown  on  later  pages. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  REGION  AROUND  PARIS 

13.  The  Three  Sectors  centering  at  Paris.  The  confluence 
at  Paris  of  the  Seine  and  the  ]\Iarne,  each  of  which  has  re- 
ceived many  converging  tributaries  in  its  upper  course,  may 
be  taken  to  mark  the  drainage  center  of  the  Paris  basin.  The 
same  two  branch  rivers  and  the  trunk  river  in  which  they 
unite  serve  to  divide  the  central  area  of  the  basin  into  three 
unequal  sectors:  one  of  about  a  right  angle  and  a  half  on 
the  south,  between  the  upper  and  lower  Seine;  another  of 
the  same  amplitude  on  the  north  between  the  Marne  and  the 
lower  Seine;  and  a  third  of  about  90°  on  the  east  between  the 
Marne  and  the  upper  Seine.  Although  the  sectors  are  here 
named  after  three  of  the  cardhial  points,  it  should  be  noted 
that  the  course  of  the  upper  Seine  is  about  northwest;  that 
of  the  Marne,  west-southwest;  and  that  of  the  lower  Seine, 
west-northwest;  hence  the  sectors  do  not  precisely  face  the 
points  for  which  they  are  named. 

The  southern  sector  is  largely  occupied  by  uplands,  which 
are  chiefly  formed  of  the  youngest,  uppermost  members  of  the 
heavy  series  of  basin  strata,  lying  essentially  horizontal. 
Some  (JO  k.  or  more  to  the  south  and  southwest  these  strata 
have  a  broadly  contiruious  surface;  near  Paris  they  are  sepa- 
rated by  irregularly  Ijranching  valleys  into  discontinuous 
tabular  masses  at  remarkal)ly  uniform  altitudes  of  160  or 
170  III.  The  eastern  sector  begins  as  a  lowland  80  or  90  m.  in 
altitude  and  ascends  slowly  eastward  with  the  rising  strata 

27 


28 


THE  REGION  AROUND  PARIS 


CENTR.\L  AREA  OF  THE  PARIS  BASIN 


29 


to  an  upland  200  ni.  or  more  in  altitude,  where  practically  all 
traces  of  the  uppermost  beds,  100  m.  or  hiore  in  thickness, 
have  been  worn  away.  In  the  northern  sector,  the  upper- 
most strata  have  been  less  completely  removed;  they  are 
seen  chiefly  in  the  neighborhood  of  Paris  as  isolated  residual 
hills,  from  130  to  200  m.  in  altitude,  surmounting  the  lowland 
(60-90  m.)  of  imderlying  strata,  which  rise  slowly  westward 
and  northward  to  an  upland  (140-170  m.)  that  is  continuous, 


Fig.  6.    Bird's-Ei-e  Diagram.    Central  Area  of  Paris  Basin 

except  for  river  valleys,  with  the  upland  of  the  eastern  sector. 
The  eastern  part  of  the  northern  sector  is  cut  by  the  Ourcq, 
flowing  southwestward  to  the  Marne;  the  western  part  is  cut 
across  on  a  parallel  line  of  greater  length  by  the  Oise,  which 
joins  the  Seine  at  its  second  northern  loop  below  Paris. 

This  arrangement  of  upland.s  and  lowlands  is  very  rouglily  suni- 
iiiarizcd  in  Fig.  6,  by  which  the  unsymmctrical  "  nesting  "  of  the 
ba«in  strata,  already  referred  to  on  an  earlier  page,  may  be  made 
more  apparent  tliari  before.  It  thus  apjM'ars  that  the  center  of  the 
Paris  ba.sin,  as  marked  by  th(!  upixTinost  members  of  the  basin  .series, 
lies  somewhat  to  the  wjuth  of  the  center  a.s  marked  by  the  conver- 
gence of  the  chief  rivers  at  the  site  of  the  capital  city.    Tlic  division 


30  THE  REGION  AROUND  PARIS 

of  the  Parisian  district  into  sectors,  as  here  indicated,  is  not  exact 
and  geometrical,  but  rough  and  geographical,  for  the  three  chief 
rivers  are  not  rectilinear.  The  upper  Seine  is  moderately  sinuous; 
the  Marne  is  strikingly  sinuous;  the  lower  Seine  is  exceedingly 
sinuous,  especially  at  and  next  below  Paris.  Near  the  central  area 
the  rivers  are  about  20  m.  above  sea  level;  the  adjoining  lowlands  are 
from  20  to  60  m.  higher.  The  three  sectors  may  now  be  described 
more  in  detail. 

14.  The  Southern  Sector.  The  discontinuous  tabular  up- 
lands, O,  Fig.  6,  south  of  the  Seine  near  Paris  fall  off  eastward 
and  less  distinctly  westward  in  irregular  scarps,  notched  by 
many  valleys  and  ravines,  toward  lower  lands  bordering 
the  upper  and  the  lower  Seine.  The  scarp  to  the  east  is  the 
stronger  of  the  two,  because  the  lowland  there  near  the  basin 
center  is  lower  than  on  the  west.  The  valleys  that  notch  the 
scarps  become  shallower  toward  their  heads.  The  forest  of 
Fontainebleau  lies  on  the  upland  margin  (130  m.)  60  k.  south 
of  Paris;  and  the  historic  town  of  the  same  name  occupies  a 
lowland  site  near  the  Seine.  A  shght  predominance  of  north- 
west-southeast valleys  becomes  more  marked  as  Paris  is 
approached:  one  such  valley,  drained  to  the  northwest,  cuts 
off  a  strip  of  the  even  upland,  25  k.  long  and  from  2  to  4  k. 
wide,  that  lies  tangent  to  the  three  southern  loops  of  the  Seine 
below  Paris;  another  such  valley,  drained  to  the  Seine  above 
Paris,  almost  cuts  off  a  shorter,  irregular  portion  of  the  upland 
near  the  blunt  apex  of  the  sector. 

The  location  of  cities  and  towns  near  Paris  on  the  south  may  be 
roughly  expressed  in  terms  of  the  features  thus  described.  Sceaux 
lies  on  the  high  ground  near  the  east  end  of  the  shorter  detached 
portion  of  the  upland,  and  enjoys  a  delightful  prospect  over  the  low- 
land adjoining  the  upper  Seine;  Meudon  Ues  on  a  northern  spur  of 
the  same  upland  detachment,  and  overlooks  the  first  southern  loop 
of  the  Seine  below  Paris,  across  which  the  Bois  de  Boulogne  is  seen 


CITIES  AND  TOWNS  SOUTH  OF  PARIS  31 

covering  the  terminal  part  spur  of  the  lowhuid  that  enters  this  loop 
from  the  northeast.  Sevres  lies  on  the  slope  near  the  Seine  below 
Meudon.  Versailles  (60,458)  with  its  roj-al  palace  and  gardens  is 
situated  near  the  head  of  the  valley  which  cuts  off  the  longer  upland 
strip;  St.  Cyr,  the  seat  of  a  famous  military  school,  is  at  the  northern 
base  of  the  large  upland  area  a  little  farther  west.  St.  Cloud  and  its 
park  occupy  the  eastern  end  of  the  longer  detached  upland  strip, 
with  a  fine  view  up  the  Seine  to  Paris;  St.  Germain  is  at  the  northern 
ba.se  of  this  strip  farther  west,  where  it  is  touched  by  the  second 


Fig.  7.     Villages  at  Stream-head  Springs 

southward  loop  of  the  Seine  west  of  Paris.  In  this  area  of  detached 
uplands,  the  smaller  villages,  most  of  which  are  of  ancient  or 
medieval  origin,  are  frequently  situated,  as  in  Fig.  7,  on  the  upland 
slojK'S  where  the  higher  beds  of  pervious  limestones  and  sandstones 
rest,  all  horizontal,  on  impervious  clays;  for  at  that  level  springs 
i.ssue,  on  which  the  local  water  supply  has  for  centuries  been  depend- 
ent. This  primitive  control  of  village  location  will  be  frequently  met 
with  in  other  parts  of  France. 

lo.  The  Eastern  Sector.  The  lowland  of  the  90"  sector  be- 
tween the  Seine  and  the  Marne  rises  eastward  to  an  upland, 
1,  Fig.  G,  known  as  la  Brie,  part  of  which  was  overrun  by  the 
(Icnnan  army  in  August,  1914,  as  will  bo  doscribod  on  p.  114. 
The  slope  of  the  surface  is,  although  gentle,  distinctly  greater 
than  the  fall  of  the  rivers  that  drain  it;  hence  their  valleys 
increase  in  depth  as  they  are  followed  ujjstreain.  Most  of  the 
streams  evidently  had  a  serpentine  course  before  they  began 
to  erode  the  present  valleys,  for  the  valleys  themselves  are 


32 


THE  REGION  AROUND  PARIS 


strikingly  sinuous,  with  steep  amphitheatral  slopes,  alternately 
on  the  right  and  left,  opposite  sloping  spurs,  alternately  on  the 
left  and  right.  As  the  serpentine  curves  of  rivers  increase 
in  size  with  increase  of  river  volume,  the  valleys  show  the 
same  systematic  variation  of  form;   thus  the  Yeres,  a  small 


10    KIU 


FiG.  8.    The  Meandering  Valley  op  the  Yeres,  looking  East 

tributary  of  the  upper  Seine,  has  a  valley  with  numerous, 
small,  close-set  bends  as  in  Fig.  8;  the  Grand  Morin,  a 
somewhat  larger  tributary  of  the  Marne,  has  a  valley  of 
larger  pattern  and  therefore  of  fewer  bends;  and  the  Marne 
itself  has  a  valley  in  which  the  bends  are  on  a  still  larger  scale 
and  hence  still  fewer  in  number,  as  in  Fig.  9.  The  city  of 
Meaux,  here  shown,  marks  the  nearest  approach  of  the  Ger- 
mans to  Paris  in  September,  1914. 


THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  MARNE 


33 


A  national  highway  and  a  main  railwaj Chemin  de  Fer  de 

l'j?pt  —  which  ascend  the  valley  of  the  Marne  on  the  way  from  Paris 


Fig.  9.    Valley  of  the  Marne  at  Meaux,  lookinq  East 

to  Nancy,  make  short  cuts  across  the  vallcy-side  spurs;   the  IiIkIi- 
way  ia  the  shorter  of  the  two  lines,  because  it  can  follow  steeper 


34  THE  REGION  AROUND  PARIS 

gradients  than  the  railway;  both  are  much  shorter  than  the  river, 
as  is  shown  in  Fig.  9.  It  was  across  this  sinuous  valley  that  the 
French  under  General  Joffre  drove  back  the  Germans  in  the  Battle 
of  the  Marne  in  September,  1914.  Another  highway  and  a  main 
railway  —  Chemin  de  Fer  de  Paris  a  Lyon  et  a  la  Mediterran^e,  the 
so-called  "  P.  L.  M."  —  turn  from  the  upper  Seine  valley  into  that 
of  the  Yeres,  in  order  to  make  a  direct  cut  southeastward  across  the 
lowland,  thus  saving  a  detour  to  the  west  made  by  the  Seine  itself, 
which  they  rejoin  about  midway  in  its  valley  through  the  upland,  and 
there  Melun  is  situated ;  farther  upstream,  where  the  valley  is  deeper, 
it  is  more  closely  followed  by  the  highway  and  the  railway.  The  two 
lines  a  little  beyond  the  point  where  they  leave  the  Seine  for  their 
short  cut  are  shown  in  Fig.  8. 

16.    The  Strata  and  the  Soils  of  the  Eastern  Sector.    The  east- 
ern sector  offers  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  relation  which 


Fig.  10.    Structure  of  the  Brie  Upland 

exists  between  rock  structure  —  a  subject  which  is  too  com- 
monly set  aside  as  belonging  only  to  geology  —  and  surface 
conditions.  The  basin  strata  in  this  sector  dip  gently  to  the 
west  at  a  slightly  steeper  angle  than  the  inclination  of  the 
surface,  as  shown  in  Fig.  10;  hence  as  they  are  cut  across  by 
the  Seine  and  the  Marne,  their  occasional  outcrops  appear  in 
slanting  belts  on  the  valley  sides,  which  vary  in  form  and  soil 
as  they  pass  from  belt  to  belt.  The  most  resistant  strata  are 
the  impure  limestones  (calcaire  grossier)  which  form  the  strong 
east-facing  escarpment  where  the  upland  of  Brie  falls  off 
toward  the  lowland  of  Champagne,  as  will  be  further  de- 
scribed in  chapter  VIII. 

It  is  noteworthy  that,  as  a  result  of  the  strata  being  inclined 
at  a  steeper  angle  than  the  gentle  despent  of  the  surface  as 


SOILS  OF  THE  BRIE  UPL.\ND  35 

shown  in  I-^ig.  10,  their  uppermost  (youngest)  members  in 
this  sector  are  reached  on  the  lowest  ground,  while  the  lower- 
most (oldest)  members  of  this  district  occupy  the  upland  — 
but  as  will  be  seen  later,  still  lower  members  occur  in  the  low- 
lands farther  east.  As  the  successive  strata  overlap  the  slop- 
ing surface,  the  soils  vary,  and  with  variation  of  soils  comes 
variation  of  living  conditions.  The  strata  that  overlie  the 
calcaire  grassier  and  cover  most  of  the  Brie  uplands  weather 
into  a  poor,  "  cold  "  or  wet  soil,  which  was  formerl}^  left  to 
forest  growth,  and  which  even  \vhere  cleared  and  cultivated 
today  does  not  give  so  good  a  return  as  the  calcareous  soils  of 
the  lower  slope  or  as  the  loams  of  the  lowlands  farther  west. 

These  more  fertile  lowland  areas  have  long  been  known  for  their 
tliriving  farms,  each  having  its  group  of  buildings  enclosed  by  a 
rectangular  wall,  half  a  mile  or  more  from  its  neiglibors,  instead  of 
being  compacted  in  villages  such  as  are  described  above  as  having 
grown  around  the  springs  in  the  slopes  of  the  uplands  on  the  south  of 
Paris,  or  such  as  will  be  described  in  section  5G,  grouped  around  the 
deep  wells  of  the  northwestern  chalk  country.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  these  varied  relations  between  geographical  factors  and 
human  conditions  have  long  been  well  established  in  a  country'  of  so 
ancient  settlementas  France,  where  the  mannerof  living  and  the  loca- 
tion of  settlements  have  been  developed  by  primitive  methods  of  trial 
aflai)ted  to  simple,  local  needs  through  centuries  of  struggle  for 
exi.steiice,  and  where  satisfactory  locations  and  occupations,  when 
found,  have  been  long  adhered  to.  Frencli  geography  is  therefore  in 
thii3  respect  utterly  unlike  the  geography  of  the  western  United 
States,  where  the  location  of  many  a  village  has  been  arl)itrarily 
determined  by  conditions  little  related  to  geograi^hical  factors. 

17.  The  Northern  Sector.  The  broad  sector  north  of  Paris 
combines  some  of  the  features  of  its  two  neighbors.  Its  central 
part  i.s  chi(,'fly  a  rolling  lowland,  similar  in  form  and  soil  to  the 
lower  i)art  of  fhc  eastern  sector;   but  the  lowland  is  here  sur- 


36  THE  REGION  AROUND  PARIS 

mounted  by  a  number  of  hills  or  upland  remnants,  mostly  of 
small  area,  although  in  composition  and  altitude  similar  to  the 
large  uplands  of  the  southern  sector.  One  of  the  smallest  of 
the  hills,  of  less  height  than  the  larger  ones,  is  Montmartre,  in 
the  northern  part  of  Paris;  a  chain  of  hills,  about  20  k.  in 
length,  begins  in  the  Butte  Chaumont  on  the  northeastern 
border  of  Paris  and  extends  eastward  in  a  rambling  course  to 
the  north  bank  of  the  Marne.  A  range  of  hills  begins  35  k. 
northeast  of  Paris  and  trends  northwest;  the  southeastward 
prolongation  of  this  line  into  the  valley  of  the  Marne  marks 
the  site  of  Meaux.  A  small  ridge  (170  m.)  is  tangent  to  the 
two  northward  loops  of  the  Seine,  15  k.  northwest  of  Paris; 
north  of  this  ridge  rise  the  subdivided  heights  of  Mont- 
morency (182  m.),  of  oval  area,  9  k.  in  length,  18  k.  north- 
northwest  of  Paris;  the  little  upland  of  Hautie  (170  m.)  of 
similar  dimensions  stands  30  k.  to  the  northwest  of  the  city, 
a  short  distance  west  of  the  confluence  of  the  Seine  and  Oise, 
across  the  third  southern  loop  of  the  trunk  river  below  Paris. 
Nearly  all  the  isolated  hills  near  Paris  are  crowned  by  for- 
tresses and  redoubts,  formerly  regarded  as  impregnable  but 
now  known  not  to  be  of  sufficient  strength  to  withstand 
bombardment  by  the  heavy  siege  guns  of  modern  warfare. 

The  far  northeastern  uplands  of  the  northern  sector,  from 
which  the  Germans  were  driven  after  the  Battle  of  the  Marne 
in  September,  1914,  and  the  northern  extension  of  the  sector 
in "  irregular,  plateau-like  segments  beyond  the  east-west 
valley  of  the  Aisne,  where  the  battle  front  lies  in  the  spring 
of  1918,  will  be  described  in  chapter  IX.  The  present  account 
will  not  go  beyond  the  upland  area,  known  as  Valois,  which  is 
limited  on  the  north  by  the  Aisne  valley.  The  gradual  ascent 
from  the  lowland  (69-90  m.)  near  Paris  to  the  Valois  uplands 
(150-170  m.)  is  accompanied  by  changes  in  soil  similar  to 


THE  SECTOR  NORTH  OF  PARIS  37 

those  described  for  the  eastern  sector;  but  while  the  ascend- 
ing surface  was  there  comparatively  continuous,  except  for  a 
moderate  number  of  radial  valleys,  it  is  here  more  interrupted 
by  many  rambling  valleys,  drained  by  branches  of  the 
Ourcq,  Aisne,  and  Oise,  as  shown  in  Fig.  5. 

The  upland  is  furthermore  occasionally  surmounted  by  hills, 
the  most  important  of  wliich  constitute  a  narrow,  east-west  range 
about  13  k.  south  of  the  Aisne  vallej^:  it  is  35  k.  in  length  and  from 
200  to  250  m.  in  altitude,  and  is  cut  through  by  a  small  stream  at 
mid-length;  the  eastern  lialf  is  mostly  cleared;  much  of  the  western 
half  is  covered  by  the  great  forest  of  Villers-Cotterets,  which  also 
spreads  across  the  uplands  to  the  north  and  south ;  like  most  of  the 
larger  forests  of  France,  this  one  is  traversed  by  a  system  of  lanes 
arranged  in  geometrical  pattern,  chiefly  for  use  in  management  and 
exploitation. 

The  northern  margin  of  the  upland  overlooking  the  Aisne  valley, 
like  the  margin  of  the  rambling  valleys  which  dissect  the  upland,  is 
irregularly  indented  b}-  the  branching  ra\ancs  of  many  small  side 
streams.  The  general  accordance  of  the  upland  level  across  the 
valleys,  as  well  as  the  correspondence  that  may  be  noted  in  the  rock 
layers  on  the  two  sides  of  the  valleys,  proves  clearly  enough  that  the 
upland  would  be  a  continuous  surface  but  for  the  work  of  weather 
and  streams  in  eroding  valleys  beneath  it.  This  is  a  point  of  practi- 
cal importance,  since  it  shows  that  when  one  valley-bounded  segment 
of  the  upland  is  known,  the  neighboring  segments  may  be  known 
in  a  general  way  from  it,  for  they  all  resemble  one  another  in  essential 
features,  such  as  altitude,  structure,  and  general  pattern,  although 
they  differ  from  each  other  in  individual  features,  such  as  extent,  and 
the  number  and  rlircction  of  infjenting  ravines.  It  is  the  uncounted 
individual  variations  tlius  played  on  a  simple  sclienie  that  charac- 
terize the  Valois  landscape. 

18.  The  WeHleni  Saliait.s  uf  the  Northern  ASeclur.  The  north- 
western part  of  the  northern  sector  west  of  the  Oise  may  be 
named  after  the  district  of  Vexin,  which  it  includes.  Its 
western  border  resembles  the  .eastern  border  of  the  eastern 

443.1 


38  THE  REGION  AROUND  PARIS 

sector  in  being  determined  by  the  gradual  ascent  of  the  rela- 
tively resistant  calcaire  grassier,  which  terminates  in  an 
escarpment  overlooking  an  exterior  lower  land  of  weaker 
layers;  but  in  the  Vexin  on  the  northwestern  side  of  the  Paris 
basin  the  ascent  of  the  strata  and  the  outlook  of  the  escarp- 
ment are  to  the  northwest,  while  in  the  Brie  on  the  other  side 
of  the  basin  center  they  are  to  the  east.  The  west-facing  Vexin 
border  is  more  irregular  than  the  east-facing  Brie  border;  its 
uplands  advance  westwards  in  several  salients  between  low- 
land reentrants,  and  the  advancing  salients  are  cut  off  in  sepa- 
rate upland  areas  of  different  size  by  the  valley  of  the  Oise, 
which  crosses  the  lowland  reentrants,  as  shown  on  the  map, 
p.  28.  As  a  result  the  Oise  valley  varies  greatly  in  width  and 
quality;  it  is  rather  narrow  and  well  enclosed  where  it  tran- 
sects the  resistant  limestone  strata  of  the  upland  salients; 
it  is  broadly  open  where  it  traverses  the  weaker  strata  of 
lowland  reentrants.  Here  is  the  most  open  approach  to 
Paris. 

The  first  of  the  reentrants  occurs  just  below  the  confluence  of  the 
Aisne  and  the  Oise;  it  is  occupied  to  the  east  of  the  Oise  by  the 
forest  of  Compiegne,  called  after  a  city  of  that  name  near  the  conflu- 
ence. To  the  southwest  of  Compiegne,  two  contiguous  cut-off  salients 
(110-150  m.)  divided  by  the  river  Breche,  advance  northwestward; 
Clermont  lies  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  larger  one.  Another  low- 
land reentrant  is  crossed  b}^  the  Oise  half  way  from  the  Aisne  to  the 
Seine;  this  will  be  referred  to  later  in  the  account  of  the  Pays  de 
Bray,  p.  140.  The  next  salient  forms  a  large  upland  which  spreads 
southward  to  the  Seine;  its  westernmost  spurs  (160  m.)  are  cut  off 
from  the  main  area  by  the  south-flowing  Epte.  The  upland  of  this 
salient  is  unlike  the  others  in  being  surmounted  by  several  small  hills 
(190,  200  m.),  like  those  near  Paris  but  of  greater  altitude  because 
the  platform  from  which  they  rise  is  higher  than  the  Paris  lowland. 

19.  Paris  audits  Neighborhood.  The  military  visitor  to  Paris  may 
find  difficulty  in  selecting  among  its  many  attractions  the  few  to 
which  his  limited  time  can  be  best  devoted.    If  he  passively  follow 


THE  NEIGHBORHOOD  OF  PARIS  39 

the  conventional  guidebook,  he  will  be  led,  whether  his  tastes  are 
artistic  or  not,  to  matchless  galleries  of  painting  and  sculpture;  or 
to  famous  buildings  and  monuments,  whetlier  or  not  he  knows 
enough  of  history  and  architecture  to  appreciate  them;  but  if  his 
tastes  are  geographical,  he  will  do  well  to  select  certain  districts  of 
medieval  and  modern  Paris  as  samples  for  outdoor  study.  These 
should  include  parts  of  the  old  central  city  of  narrow,  irregular 
streets,  and  sections  of  the  older  and  newer  ramparts,  marked  by 
the  ring  of  inner  boulevards  and  of  outer  dismantled  fortifications. 
A  number  of  new  avenues,  cut  through  the  older  parts  of  the  citj^,  are 
striking  and  characteristic  features. 

Excursions  to  high  points  of  view  are  next  to  be  commended; 
first,  in  the  city,  to  the  Butte  Chaumont  on  the  east,  to  Montmartre 
on  the  north,  and  to  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  and  the  Eiffel  Tower  on 
the  west ;  the  wide  prospect  from  the  top  of  the  Arc,  if  permission  be 
secured  to  make  the  ascent,  is  especially  to  be  commended,  with  its 
Wew  eastward  down  the  finest  avenue  in  the  world  —  the  Avenue  of 
the  Champs  Elys^es  —  to  the  Garden  of  the  Tuileries,  and  westward 
to  Neuilly  and  the  Bois  de  Boulogne  and  across  the  loop  of  the 
Seine.  Later,  \'isits  should  be  made  outside  of  the  city  to  the 
heights  on  the  south  near  Meudon,  and  on  the  west  above  St.  Cloud. 
A  trip  on  the  river  is  to  be  recommended;  here  a  hand  map  is  es- 
sential, in  order  not  to  lose  one's  bearings  on  the  many  river  turns. 

The  different  parts  of  Paris  and  the  towns  of  familiar  names 
near  by,  Fig.  11,  are  best  learned  in  relation  to  the  loops  of  the 
.■-^eine,  to  its  right  (north)  and  left  (south)  banks,  and  to  the  up- 
lands of  the  northern  and  southern  sectors,  above  described.  As 
to  the  river  loops  or  meanders,  let  it  be  understood  that  the  normal 
relation  of  valley-side  spur,  flood-plain  scroll,  and  river  meander  is 
remarkably  well  shown  at  and  below  Paris:  the  spurs  slope  gradu- 
ally to  their  end  and  their  down-valley  side;  the  spur  end  and  its 
down-valley  side  are  adjoined  by  a  flood-plain  scroll;  the  river  flows 
along  the  steeper  up-valley  slope  of  each  spur,  and  around  the  base 
of  the  opfKisite  amphitheatre  in  the  vallfy  side. 

With  these  i^oint.s  in  mind,  it  is  ea.sy  to  remember  that  Vincennes 
and  its  wood.s,  the  Bois  de  Vincennes,  lie  cast  of  Paris,  north  of  the 
confluence  of  the  Seine  and  Marne;  Belleville  is  on  the  chain  of  hills 
rif-ar  thf  Butt^;  Chaumf»nt;  the  center  of  Paris  lies  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  first  northward  bend  beh^w  the  confluence  of  the  Seine 


40 


THE  REGION  AROUND  PARIS 


I  Iff A»««i' 


^' 


V\\l 


,#4#"  t 


lW'W+f=i>^ 


#'fe^ 


-=:-^-ti;^^^ 


THE  NEIGHBORHOOD  OF  PARIS  41 

and  the  Marne;  part  of  the  flat  flood-plain  scroll  which  fits  into  this 
northward  bend  along  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine  in  the  western  part 
of  the  city  is  occupied  by  the  parade  ground  of  the  Champs  de  Mars. 
Farther  along  the  same  bank  is  the  suburb  of  Crenelle,  where  a 
famous  artesian  well,  dependent  for  its  flow  upon  the  basin  structure 
of  the  region,  serves  as  an  important  source  of  water  supply,  though 
supplemented  by  other  wells  and  more  largely  by  surface  aqueducts 
from  neighboring  valleys. 

The  steep  slope  of  the  opposite  amphitheatre  rises  to  the  Troca- 
d^ro,  from  which  a  long  spur  declines  gradually  southwestward  with 
Passy  on  its  steep  eastern  side  along  the  right  bank  of  the  river;  the 
flood-plain  scroll  that  wraps  around  the  west  side  of  this  spur  and 
fits  into  the  first  southward  loop  of  the  river  is  occupied  by  Bou- 
logne-sur-Seine  (57,027)  with  its  Bois  and  by  Neuilly,  lately  famous 
for  its  American  hospital ;  part  of  the  plain  between  these  two  towns 
is  utilized  for  the  level  racecourse  of  Longchamps.  Se\Tes  and 
St.  Cloud  are  on  the  left  bank  in  the  amphitheatre  south  of  Bou- 
logne; the  famous  fortress  of  Mt.  Val^rien  is  on  top  of  the  spur, 
north  of  St.  Cloud;  St.  Denis  and  Argenteuil  mark  the  beginning 
and  end  of  the  amphitheatral  slope  around  the  first  northward  loop 
below  Paris;  St.  Germain  lies  on  the  farther  part  of  the  next  am- 
phitlieatre,  which  encloses  the  second  southward  loop,  and  its  forest 
covers  the  spur  which  extends  into  the  second  northward  loop;  at 
the  farther  turn  of  this  loop  the  Seine  is  joined  by  the  Oise,  on  which 
Pontoise  lies  at  the  crossing  of  an  ancient  road.  Poissy  lies  at  the 
beginning  of  the  next  amphitheatre  into  which  the  third  southern 
loop  enters;  and  so  on. 

The  degree  to  wliioh  the  centralization  of  government,  arts,  indus- 
tries, and  traffic  in  Paris  has  been  carried  may  be  judged  by  the 
numlxT  of  railways  and  national  roads  that  converge  to  it,  as  the 
spokes  of  a  wheel  converge  to  the  hub.  A  circle  of  25  k.  radius  drawn 
around  Paris  cuts  the  main  lines  and  various  l)ranches  of  the  five 
chief  railway  systems  of  the  West,  the  North,  the  East,  the  P.  L.  M. 
(Pari.s-Lyons-Slediterranean),  and  Orleans  at  some  15  points;  it 
cuts  also  a  similar  number  of  national  roads  directed  to  as  many 
iriijxjrtaiit  cities,  sonn-  of  which,  like  liordeaux  to  the  southwest, 
Lyons  to  the  southeast,  and  Hale  in  northern  Switzerland,  are  400  or 
500  k.  distant;  short  stretches  of  the  roads  to  Lyons,  BAle,  and 
Nancy  are  sJiown  in  Figs.  8  and  D. 


42 


THE  REGION  AROUND  PARIS 


The  following  pages  are  planned  to  make  a  circuit  of  the 
successive  parts  of  the  Paris  basin,  beginning  on  the  east,  and 
passing  around  by  the  north  to  the  northwest,  thus  including 
as  much  of  France  as  lies  northeast  of  the  Marne  and  the 


Belfort    ;^      j^  - 

rt^<^ 


ZSl" 


Fig.  12.    Index  of  Outline  Maps 

lower  Seine.  Brief  accounts  of  adjacent  regions  farther  north- 
east are  added.  The  location  of  the  outline  maps  which 
represent  the  areas  described  is  indicated  in  Fig.  12;  the  maps 
will  be  referred  to  in  the  order  here  given  from  1  to  7;  the 
page  numbers  adjoining  the  map  numbers  indicate  where  the 
large-scale  maps  can  be  found. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  EASTERN  HALF  OF  THE  PARIS  BASIN 

20.  The  Belted  Relief  of  Xortheasiern  France.  The  concen- 
tric belts  in  which  the  stratified  formations  outcrop  in  the 
eastern  half  of  the  Paris  basm  from  the  Central  Highlands 
on  the  south  to  the  Ardennes  on  the  north,  and  the  corre- 
spondingly concentric  arrangement  of  uplands  (shaded  and 
numbered  from  1  to  8  in  Fig.  13)  and  lower  lands  (unshaded) 
following  the  outcrops  of  stronger  and  weaker  strata,  like 
aureoles  around  the  Paris  center,  are  the  leading  physio- 
graphic features  of  northeastern  France.  There  are  indeed 
no  better  illustrations  of  this  kind  of  topography  in  the 
known  world.  As  the  variety  of  features  is  large,  their 
description  cannot  be  short. 

Each  belt  of  weak  strata  is  worn  down,  as  in  Fig.  14,  in  an 
un.symmetrical  depression,  limited  on  the  east  by  the  long  and 
gentle  ascent  of  the  next  underlying  resistant  strata,  and  on 
the  west  by  the  steep  scarp  of  the  next  overlying  resistant 
strata.  Conversely,  each  belt  of  resistant  strata  remains  in 
relief  as  an  unsyrametrical  upland  ridge,  having  a  broad  crest 
with  a  steep  escarpment  or  scarp  descending  eastward  to  the 
depression  excavated  on  the  next  underlying  weak  strata,  and 
a  long  gradual  .^loi)e  descending  westward  to  the  depression 
excavated  on  the  next  overlying  weak  strata.  Hence  the 
"  grain  "  of  the  rehef  in  this  half  of  the  Paris  basin  follows  a 
series  of  upland  belts  arrange(l  in  concentric  arcs,  convey 
eastward,  as  above  noted. 

43 


44  EASTERN  HALF  OF  THE  PARIS  BASIN 

The  eight  upland  belts  are  by  no  means  alike.  The  first  is 
of  strong  relief;  the  second  is  lower  and  of  more  delicate 
form;  the  third  is  the  shortest  of  the  series;  the  fourth  and 
fifth  are  long  and  strong;  the  sixth  is  less  distinct;  the 
seventh  is  the  least  developed  of  all,  and  is  characterized 
more  by  its  limestone  soils  than  by  an  unsymmetrical  ridge 
form;  the  eighth  is  strong  along  the  western  border  of  the 
Vosges,  but  elsewhere  is  marked  chiefly  by  its  infertile  sandy 
soils.  The  intermediate  depressions  also  vary  in  dimensions 
and  in  form :  it  should  be  understood  that,  although  unshaded 
in  Fig.  13,  they  are  not  always  lowlands  of  small  altitude 
above  sea  level,  nor  are  they  always  plains;  some  of  them 
have  a  rolling  or  hilly  surface  100  m.  or  more  in  altitude;  but 
they  are  always  lower  than  the  adjoining  upland  belts. 

The  resistant  strata  which  determine  an  upland  belt  frequently 
crop  out  in  bare  ledges,  or  are  covered  only  by  a  thin  stony  soil  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  steep  scarp  and  over  the  broad  crest  of  the 
upland;  the  weak  strata,  on  the  other  hand,  which  are  worn  down 
in  the  longitudinal  depression  between  two  upland  belts  are  usually 
concealed  under  a  deep  soil;  the  same  is  true  of  the  lower  slopes 
beneath  the  steep  scarp  on  one  side  of  an  upland  belt  and  on  the 
long  descent  of  the  other  side. 

Some  of  the  upland  belts  are  called  cotes  by  the  French,  but  the 
word  has  no  special  meaning;  the  Spanish  etymological  equivalent, 
cuesta  (pronounced  in  two  syllables,  kwes-ta),  locally  employed  for 
certain  unsymmetrical  upland  ridges  on  our  Mexican  frontier,  has 
been  adopted  by  a  number  of  American  geographers  as  a  special 
name  for  forms  of  this  kind  and  will  here  be  sometimes  used.  The 
steep  scarp  of  a  cuesta  is  often  called  its  face;  and  the  long  slope  of 
the  other  side  is  called  its  back.  The  unsymmetrical  depression  or 
lowland  between  two  cuestas  has  no  technical  name;  it  can  hardly 
be  called  a  "  valley,"  because  it  is  drained  by  many  streams  instead 
of  by  one. 

While  the  upland  belts  are  thus  arranged  in  concentric 
arcs,  the  valleys  of  the  larger  rivers  are  otherwise  disposed. 


UPLAND  BELTS  OF  NORTHEASTERN  FRANCE     45 


200  *00  K. 

¥lO.    13.      I'ilVHKX.KAI'llIC   I'EATt'BEB  OF   NoRTHEABTEKN   P'RANCB 


46 


EASTERN  HALF  OF  THE  PARIS  BASIN 


A  number  of  rivers  flow  in  roughly  radial  fashion,  converging 
toward  Paris;  and  as  travel  and  transportation  are  today 
conducted  chiefly  along  the  river  valleys,  it  follows  that  the 
inter-upland  depressions  are  of  secondary  importance  as  lines 
of  movement.     Nevertheless  it  is  primarily  in  terms  of  the 


Fig.  14.    Upland  Belts  and 

upland  belts  and  the  depressions  between  them  that  the 
physical  features  of  the  half -basin  east  of  Paris  are  best  pre- 
sented; after  they  are  apprehended,  the  river  and  valleys,  the 


Fig.  15.    The  Steep  Scarp  of  an  Upland  Belt 

cities,  railways,  and  other  features  can  be  duly  located  with 
respect  to  them. 


21.  ,The  Upland  Belts  as  Natural  Defences.  Without  includ- 
ing the  tabular  hills  of  uppermost  sandstones  already  described 
on  the  south  of  Paris,  all  but  one  of  the  eight  more  or  less  con- 
tinuous upland  belts,  separated  by  longitudinal  depressions 
and  varying  greatly  in  height,  breadth,  and  pattern,  are 
crossed  by  a  radial  line  350  k.  in  length  from  the  basin  center 
to  the  Vosges.  The  number  would  be  increased  if  several 
subordinate  cuesta-like  belts  or  benches  were  counted. 


UPL.\ND  BELTS  AS  NATUR.\L  DEFENCES 


47 


It  has  long  been  reniarkcd  that  this  aiTangement  of  the 
rcHef,  which  presents  gentle  slopes  and  broad  crests  for  occu- 
pation by  the  home  forces,  and  steep  scarps  to  invaders  from 
the  cast,  provides  a  series  of  natural  defences  against  an 
attack  from   \\\c  German  frontier;    but  the  defences  were 


rEKMEDlATE    DeI'KESSIONS 


overcome  in  1870  by  the  superior  organization  and  prompt 
mobilization  of  the  Germans,  who  advanced  rapidly  across 
tlif  Lorraine  saddle  and  over  the  upland  belts  to  Paris.    Since 


—    -  "      ■fcTiir'- 


Fig.  10.   The  Long  Back  Slope  of  an  Upland  Belt 

then  the  natural  defences  of  the  northeastern  frontier  have 
been  reenforced  by  the  construction  of  the  chain  of  fortresses 
above-named  —  Belfort,    Epinal,    Toul.    V<i(luii,    Mc'^zi^res, 

Maubeugt from  the  Vosges  to  the  Ardennes.     Hence  in 

1914  the  Germans,  in.stead  of  again  advancing  from  Lorraine, 
pa.'^.'^cd  arfiUiid  the  Ardennes,  thereby  deliiu'rately  violating 
the  neutrality  of  Belgimn,  in  order  to  attack  France  from  the 
north,  where  most  of  the  ui)land  belts  are  wanting.  There 
the  defences,  both  natural  and  artificial, an;  weaker,  the  mining 
and  industrial  districts  of  the  northern  border  were  rich  prizes, 
and  the  advance  southward  into  the  region  north  an<l  east 


48 


EASTERN  HALF  OF  THE  PARIS  BASIN 


of  Paris  was  along  the  grain  of  the  reHef  rather  than  across  it. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  three  more  southern  fortresses  of 
Toul,  Epinal,  and  Belfort  have  not  been  attacked  in  the 
present  war,  that  the  northern  (unfinished)  fortresses  of  Mau- 
beuge  and  Mezieres  were  overwhelmed,  and  that  the  inter- 
mediate fortress  of  Verdun,  where  the  fighting  front  crosses 


Fig.  17.    Relation  of  Structure  and  Form  in  Upland  Belts 

the  line  of  fortresses,  has  been  the  scene  of  a   prolonged 
struggle. 

22.  Varied  Features  of  Different  Upland  Belts.  Before  proceeding 
to  the  description  of  the  individual  features  in  the  eastern  half  of 
the  Paris  basin  and  its  extension  over  the  saddles  of  Langres  and  Lor- 
raine, a  brief  statement  may  be  made  of  the  various  ways  in  which 
the  upland  belts  or  cuestas  depart  from  the  simple  forms  of  Figs.  15 
and  16.  The  stronger  and  thicker  the  cuesta-making  strata,  the 
higher  and  bolder  is  the  cuesta,  as  on  the  left  in  Fig.  14,  A  thin 
cuesta-maker  between  heavy  bodies  of  weaker  strata  will  make  a 
low  cuesta  or  upland,  as  in  the  middle  of  the  figure.  The  weaker  and 
thicker  the  intermediate  strata,  the  broader,  lower,  and  smoother  is 


^'ARIATIOXS  OF  UPLAND  BELTS  49 

the  inter-cuesta  depression,  as  to  the  left  of  the  middle.  If  a  thin 
body  of  weak  strata  lies  between  two  strong  ciiesta-makers,  the 
resulting  depression,  as  near  the  right  end  of  tlie  figure,  will  be  nar- 
row and  shallow,  so  that  it  as  well  as  the  ujjland  belts  will  be  trenched 
by  stream  valleys;  upland  belts  thus  related  may  be  described  as 
overlapping,  in  contrast  to  the  belts  in  the  middle  and  near  the  left 
end  of  the  figure,  which  ma}-  be  described  as  wide-spaced. 

The  greater  the  slant  of  the  strata,  the  more  direct  the  front  of  the 
upland  belt,  until  when  the  strata  are  steep  or  vertical,  as  in  the  fore- 
ground of  Fig.  17,  the  belt  becomes  a  narrow  ridge:  on  tlie  other 
hantl,  tlie  less  the  slant  of  the  determining  strata,  the  more  irregular 
the  upland  front,  until  when  the  strata  lie  horizontal  as  in  the  back- 
ground of  P'ig.  17,  the  upland  becomes  a  table-land  with  an  irregular 
margin  and  detached  outliers,  as  is  the  case  in  the  first  upland  belt 
100  k.  northeast  of  Paris,  ^'ariations  in  the  resistance,  the  tliickne-ss, 
or  the  slant  of  strata  along  tlieir  belt  of  outcrop  therefore  cause  cor- 
responding variations  in  the  form  of  the  upland  belts. 

The  relation  between  river  courses  and  upland  belts  is  very 
varied.  The  simplest  relation  is  that  of  a  squarelj*  transverse  river, 
flowing  with  the  slant  of  the  cuesta-making  strata,  as  in  Figs.  15 
and  16;  and  such  is  the  course  of  the  historic  Marne  where  it  cuts 
a  narrow  gateway  through  the  strong  upland  ne.xt  east  of  Paris,  the 
first  of  the  series  counting  eastward  to  the  ^'osges,  as  will  be  again 
told  in  section  47.  Gateways  of  this  kind  are  of  great  importance 
as  fines  of  travel:  they  can  be  strongly  defended  against  invasion  by 
fortifying  the  adjoining  uplands.  The  Meuse,  on  the  other  hand, 
cuts  off  a  long  segment  from  the  curved  front  of  the  fourth  belt, 
somewhat  as  in  Fig.  18;  the  river  enters  obli(}uely  from  the  south, 
runs  Ix-'hind  the  u{)land  front  as  a  chord  passes  behind  its  arc,  and 
flows  out  obfiqudy  to  the  nortli,  as  will  be  more  fully  described  in 
section  37.  Many  of  the  uplands  are  much  dissected  by  the  ravines 
of  small  streams,  so  that  they  form  belts  of  hills,  rather  than  a 
continufjus  uphmd  surface. 

Streams  occasionally  flow  tlirougii  an  ujjland  belt  against  the  slant 
of  the  deU-rmining  strata;  several  such  streams  cut  trenches 
through  the  strong  rampart  of  the  fifth  upland  belt  west  of  the 
Mo.vlle  as  slinwu  on  the  map,  ]>.  (»(),  and  thus  bring  t«i  th:it  river 
the  drainage  of  tlie  broad  lowland,  known  as  the  W'ucitc,  wiiicli  there 


50 


EASTERN  HALF  OF  THE  PARIS  BASIN 


lies  between  the  fifth  and  the  fourth  upland  belts:  one  such  stream 
heads  at  a  point  where  the  fourth  upland  is  exceptionally  narrow; 
and  it  is  there  that  the  Germans,  advancing  from  Metz,  pushed  for- 
ward their  front  in  a  salient  which  overlaps  the  scarp  of  the  fourth 
upland  and  includes  St.  Mihiel  on  the  chord-valley  of  the  Meuse, 
as  will  be  stated  more  in  detail  in  section  39.  If  the  details  pre- 
sented here  and  on  the  following  pages  seem  complicated,  let  it  be 


Fig.  18.    An  Upland  Belt  with  a  Detached  Segment 

remembered  that  they  are  much  simpler  than  the  varied  forms  of 
nature. 

It  may  be  noted  that  the  upland  belts  or  cuestas  are  not  so  easily 
recognized  on  a  large-scale  map  as  on  the  ground,  for  the  downward 
view  of  a  map  shows  the  many  valleys  by  which  an  upland  and  the 
adjoining  depressions  may  be  dissected,  and  therefore  does  not  set 
forth  the  unity  of  the  upland  nearly  so  well  as  when  it  is  seen  in 
outdoor  nature.  But  outdoor  views  of  the  uplands  may  also  fail  to 
reveal  their  true  character  if  they  are  seen  from  the  floors  of  the 
larger  transverse  valleys  that  are  followed  by  the  chief  routes  of 
travel;  for  if,  as  is  often  the  case,  the  intermediate  depressions  as 
well  as  the  uplands  are  trenched  by  the  transverse  valley  that  an 
observer  follows,  an  upland  seen  from  the  bottom  of  such  a  valley 
may  be  regarded  simply  as  a  hill  somewhat  higher  than  its  neighbors, 


LACK  OF  NAMES  FOR  UPLAND  BELTS  51 

and  the  long  contiuuit}-  of  its  relief  will  not  be  recognized.  It  is  in 
the  almost  horizontal  views  from  hilltops,  whence  all  the  valleys 
but  those  in  the  foreground  disappear,  as  in  Fig.  15,  that  the  con- 
tinuity of  an  upland  belt  is  best  jxTccivcd,  especially  if  its  front  rises 
only  50  or  00  in.  above  an  adjoining  dissected  depression. 

It  would  greatly  facilitate  the  description  of  the  upland  belts  if 
each  one  had  a  name  for  itself,  but  even  the  strongest  of  them  vary 
so  much  in  form  and  are  cut  across  by  so  many  valleys  that  their 
contumity  has  never  been  recognized  in  pojiular  nomenclature. 
The  habit  followed  by  some  geographers  of  designating  the  belts  by 
the  names  of  the  geological  formations  to  which  their  strata  belong 
—  as  bathonien,  bajocien,  kimmcridgien,  etc. — -is  unsatisfactory, 
because  such  names  are  technical  and  unfamiliar,  and  because  atten- 
tion is  thereby  turned  too  much  from  their  exterior  form  to  their 
interior  constitution.  They  miglit  be  named  after  the  cities  that  lie 
upon  or  in  front  of  them;  thus  the  fifth  could  be  called  the  Langres- 
Xancy-Metz  cuesta;  but  such  compound  names  are  not  convenient 
for  frequent  use.  The  device  of  numbering  the  belts  eastward  from 
Paris,  as  in  Fig.  13,  has  at  Iea.st  the  merit  of  simplicity  and  of  giving 
easy  indication  of  their  relative  positions,  but  the  numbers  thus 
employed  are  not  in  current  use  in  France. 

One  reason  for  the  lack  of  simple  geographical  names  for  the  up- 
land belts  is  that  manj'  of  them  are  so  long  tluit  they  pass  from  one 
ancient  historical  province  or  modern  political  division  to  another; 
and  as  the  leading  French  students  of  geography  have  entered  the 
subject  from  the  historical  rather  than  from  the  physiographic  side, 
even  tho}'  have  not  yot  introduced  generally  accepted  names  for 
these  striking  features.  Partial  exception  to  this  statement  may  be 
made  for  the  third  and  shortest  belt,  which  lies  chiefly  in  the  western 
part  of  the  district  of  Argonne  and  which,  being  forested  for  much  of 
its  length,  is  known  as  the  Fctrest  of  .Vrgonne;  but  this  name  is  not 
ai)i)lied  to  its  northwesternmost  extension. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  VOSGES  AND  THE  ADJOINING  REGIONS 

23.  The  Highlands  of  the  Vosges.  The  eastern  side  of  the 
Paris  basin  is  Hmited  by  the  Vosges  (German,  Vogesen,  or 
Wasgau  Gebirge),  a  mountainous  highland  which  should  be 
considered,  as  shown  in  Fig.  19,  in  association  with  the  similar 
highland  of  the  Black  Forest  (German,  Schwarzwald) ,  45  k. 
farther  east,  beyond  which  a  covering  series  of  stratified  for- 
mations slopes  gently  eastward  toward  the  basin  of  the  upper 
Danube  and  thus  roughly  corresponds  to  the  series  of  covering 


r- 


Fig.  19.     The  Vosges  Mountains,  the  Valley 

strata  which  slopes  westward  from  the  Vosges  into  the  Paris 
basin.  Between  the  two  upheaved  highlands  lies  a  sunken 
belt,  trending  north  and  south  and  forming  the  broad  valley- 
lowland  that  is  followed  by  the  middle  Rhine  in  the  stretch 
from  its  narrow  passage  by  Bale  (German,  Basel)  between  the 
Black  Forest  and  the  Jura  mountains  on  the  south,  to  its 
entrance  into  the  narrow  gorge  through  the  Slate  mountains, 
280  k.  to  the  north.  In  consequence  of  this  structural 
arrangement,  both  of  the  upheaved  highlands  have  steep 
slopes  toward  the  intermediate  sunken  area,  and  more  gradual 
slopes  toward  the  basins  of  overlapping  strata. 

52 


REGION  OF  THE  VOSGES  53 

The  Vosges  proper,  consisting  in  great  part  of  resistant 
rrystalline  rocks,  increase  in  breadth  from  30  k.  in  the  north 
to  50  k.  in  the  south,  and  measure  about  110  k.  in  length  along 
their  north-south  crest,  where  their  height  ranges  from  1000 
to  1400  m.  The  highest  point  is  the  Ballon  de  Guebwiller, 
142t)  m.  in  altitude,  near  the  southern  end  of  the  highland. 
The  summits  are  usually  rounded,  dome-like  masses,  covered 
with  forests  for  the  most  part,  though  the  highest  domes  are 
treeless  above  1300  m.;  but  many  valley  heads,  especially  on 
the  eastern  slope,  are  steep  and  craggy.  The  broad  crest  of 
the  highland  is  .so  little  notched  that  no  railroads  cross  it, 
tlidugli  branch  lines  enter  the  valleys  on  cither  side. 

The  crest  f)f  tlie  Vosges  is  however  traversed  by  several  roads, 
which  like  the  railroads  follow  the  valley  bottoms  into  the  moun- 
tains as  far  as  the  ascent  is  not  too  steep,  but  which  on  reaching  the 


iE  Rhine,  and  the  Black  Forest 

steeper  valley  heads  continue  alone  in  zigzag  detours  to  accomplish 
their  object  of  rising  to  the  crest  without  strong  gradients.  Thus 
a  raihvuy  and  a  highway  enter  the  eastern  slope  from  Sclilestadt  by 
the  oblicjue  valley  of  the  Liepvrette;  the  railway  ends  at  the  village 
of  Stc.  Marie  aux  Mines  (380  m.  ? ;  Cierman,  Mnrkirch);  the 
highway  continues  in  zigzags  to  a  pa.ss  (780  m.)  near  the  mid- 
length  of  the  raiiKr',  and  descends  similarly  to  the  upper  valley  of  the 
Meurthe  where  it  meets  a  railway  at  St.  Die  Ci.")!)  m.);  tiie  direct 
•  listance  In'tween  tlie  two  railways  is  Ki  k.  Similarly  a  railway  and  a 
hiKhway  a.scend  from  Molsheim  by  the  ol)li(iue  valley  of  the  Hruche 
in  tlu-  northern  Vosges  to  the  valley  head;  there  the  highway  con- 
tinues over  a  notch  and  descends  to  a  railway  on  a  headwater 
branch  of  the  .Meurthe  northea.st  of  St.  Did,  but  on  the  French  slope 


54 


THE  VOSGES  AND  ALSACE 


Fig.  20.  The  Vosges  and  the  Valley  of  the  Rhine 


ALSACE  55 

the  road  is  not  so  well  constructed.  Again  in  the  southern  Vosges,  a 
railway  and  a  highway  from  MuUiouse  ascend  the  valley  of  the  Thur; 
the  highway  zigzags  over  a  pass  and  meets  a  railway  on  a  head  branch 
of  the  Moselle.  Xe.xt  to  the  southwest  one  of  the  finest  of  the  moun- 
tain roads  lies  altogether  in  French  territory  as  it  passes  near  an  angle 
of  the  frontier  from  a  railway  at  the  head  of  the  INIoselle  southward 
over  a  shoulder  of  the  Ballon  d'Alsace  (1244  m.)  near  the  southern 
end  of  the  range,  and,  descending,  joins  a  railway  leading  to  the 
fortress  of  Belfort:  its  repeated  zigzags  lace  across  a  convex  spur  on 
the  north  side  of  the  pass,  and  around  a  concave  ravine  head  on  the 
south  side. 

The  steep  eastern  slope  of  the  Vosges,  deeply  dissected  by  many 
narrow  valleys  and  ravines,  is  heavily  forested.  E.xcept  near  the 
southern  end  of  the  range,  the  larger  valleys  trend  obliquely  north- 
eastward; the  spurs  between  them  are  elaborately  carved  by  side 
ra\ines.  A  knob  (German,  A'op/)  at  the  end  of  a  spur  (936  m.)  on 
the  eastern  slope  of  the  Vosges  near  their  southern  end  and  20  k.  east 
of  the  crest  line,  named  Hartmannswillerkopf  ("  the  knob  of  Hart- 
mann's  hamlet  ")  from  a  village  at  its  base,  has  become  notorious 
during  the  present  war  from  being  occupied  by  the  French;  it  sur- 
mounts the  plain  by  over  GOO  m.  The  broad  lowland  of  the  middle 
Rhine,  east  of  the  highland  slope,  measures  40  k.  in  width;  near 
the  higliland  base  it  is  occupied  by  rolling  hills  of  small  relief  at  an 
altitude  of  200  or  300  m.,  and  farther  east  by  a  broad  and  Hat  river 
plain  I.jO  or  200  m.  in  altitude.  The  western  part  of  the  plain  10  k. 
cast  of  the  highland  base  is  drained  northward  by  the  111,  which 
rises  in  the  Belfort  depression  south  of  the  ^'osges;  15  k.  east  of  the 
111  is  the  Rhinf,  which  formerly  flowed  in  many  tangled  or  braided 
channels,  but  wliich  is  now  artificially  restrained  to  a  single  chaimel 
of  gentle  curvature  through  umch  of  its  course:  near  the  junction  of 
the  two  sub-parallel  rivers  east  of  the  northern  end  of  the  Vosges  lies 
the  famous  city  of  Strasbourg  (German,  Strassburg;  17S,S91.) 

24.  Alyacr.  The  present  boundary  hctwoon  France  and 
(jerinany  lies,  as  uIka'c  noted,  along  the  crest  of  the  N'osges. 
All  th(.'  eastern  slope  of  the  highland  and  the  plain  below 
it  as  far  as  liie  Rhine,  from  tiie  Swi.ss  boundary  at  Bdlc  past 


56  THE  VOSGES  AND  ADJOINING  REGIONS 

Mulhouse  (German,  Mulhausen;  95,041)  and  Colmar  and  be- 
yond Strasbourg,  formerly  constituted  the  French  province  of 
Alsace.  Since  1871  the  province  has  been  German  territory 
under  the  name  of  Elsass.  The  people  here  habitually  speak 
two  languages,  and  most  places  have  two  names,  one  French, 
one  German.  In  1872,  45,000  of  the  inhabitants  withdrew 
into  France  in  order  to  avoid  becoming  German  subjects: 
many  more  French  citizens,  equally  loyal  yet  unable  to  move 
away,  were  constrained  to  change  their  nationality;  but  they 
are  "frangais  quand  meme!" 

25.  The  Uplands  West  of  the  Vosges.  West  of  the  Vosges 
crest  line,  the  mountainous  area  has  its  greatest  extension  be- 
tween the  upper  Moselle  and  Meurthe,  where  the  ridges  (750- 
950  m.),  mostly  forested,  are  divided  by  a  labyrinth  of  irregu- 
larly branching  valleys,  from  200  to  400  m.  in  depth.  The 
main  valleys  of  the  Moselle  and  the  Meurthe  follow  generally 
northwestward  courses;  their  floors  have  a  width  of  one  or 
two  kilometers ;  their  descent  is  more  gradual  than  that  of  the 
narrow,  eastern  valleys.  Two  lakes  (Gerardmer,  631  m., 
Longemer,  716  m.)  occur  in  branch  valleys  of  the  upper 
Moselle.  St.  Die  lies  on  the  Meurthe  within  the  margin  of  the 
mountains;  the  strongly  fortified  city  of  Epinal  is  at  the 
mountain  margin  40  k.  farther  west  on  the  Moselle.  Beyond 
the  mountains  the  relief  diminishes  to  a  more  moderate 
measure  as  the  crystalline  rocks  are  irregularly  overlapped  by 
the  lowest  strata,  the  eighth  and  seventh  belt-makers,  of  the 
Paris-basin  series. 

The  district  which  extends  west  of  the  Vosges  to  the  sixth 
upland  belt  is  occupied  by  the  lowest  sandstones  and  lime- 
stones of  the  Paris-basin  series  (Fig.  21).  The  basal  member 
or  eighth  belt-maker  is  a  resistant  sandstone,  which  weathers 
to  an  infertile  soil  and  is  therefore  generally  forested.    It  is 


UPLANDS  WEST  OF  THE  VOSGES  57 

frequently  strong  enough  to  rise  in  high  uplands  or  ridges 
(550-800  m.)  along  the  mountain  margin.  It  is  followed  on 
the  northwest  by  the  rolling  uplantls  of  the  broad  seventh  belt 
(275-350  m.)-  composetl  chiefly  of  limestone  strata  which 
protluce  a  fertile  soil  and  are  therefore  generally  cleared  and 
cultivated.  These  strata  are  usually  without  distinct  topo- 
graphic expression  as  a  broad  cuesta  or  unsymmetrical  ridge; 
but  in  certain  areas  their  edge  determines  a  well  defined 
east -facing  scarp.  Their  rolling  surface  declines  gently  west- 
wartl,  and  at  distance  of  some  40  k.  from  the  Vosges,  they 
are  overlapped  by  stronger  limestones  which  rise  in  a  wcW 


' 

^^ 

JS^^O^^^ 

^^B 

81!-  -!-5tn-J-^^!?»=;c--i—  — *,-  ~=rF:; 

.    ■.*...„-.  .- 

Fig.  21.     Thk  Sixth,  Seventh,  and  Eighth  Belts  West 

OF  THE  Vosges 

marked  scarp  to  the  higher  surface  (350-400  m.)  of  the  sixth 
upland  belt,  sometimes  forested  but  more  generally  cleared. 

The  general  trend  of  the  eightli  and  .seventh  Ix-lts  hcroahouts  is 
from  southwest  to  northeast:  thus  thoy  enter  well  into  France  west 
of  the  .s(jutliern  \'osges,  where  they  adjoin  the  saddle  of  the  Langres 
plateau,  as  shown  on  the  map,  p.  69;  while  to  tlie  northeast  of  the 
frrjiitier  they  extend  far  beyond  the  northern  Vosges  into  Clerniany, 
where  tliey  form  the  Lorraine  plateau  and  th(>  Ilardt,  to  he  described 
in  ('hapt<'r  XIII.  Within  French  territory,  the  two  belts  are  cut 
almost  .sfjuarely  across  by  the  valleys  of  the  Meurthe  and  the 
Mos<'lle,  and  they  will  therefore  be  described  in  three  .seetions:  the 
first,  about  2(J  k.  wide,  fnun  the  frontier  to  the  Meurthe  valley; 
the  s<-cond.  about  .'iO  k.  wide,  between  the  two  valleys;  the  third, 
extending  '>()  k.  southwest  of  the  Moselle  valley. 

In  the  section  to  the  iKjrthcast  of  the  Meurthe,  llie  basal 
sandstones  of  the  eighth  belt  are  locally  doubled,  us  above 


58  THE  VOSGES  AND  ADJOINING  REGIONS 

figured,  in  two  mountainous,  forested  ridges.  The  first  ridge, 
from  600  to  800  m.  in  altitude,  is  separated  from  the  irregu- 
larly subdivided  hills  and  mountains  of  the  crystalline  rocks 
on  the  southeast  by  the  valley  of  the  Rabodeau,  and  from  the 
second  ridge,  which  seldom  exceeds  700  m.  in  altitude,  by  the 
valley  of  tlie  Plaine  river;  both  of  these  streams  flow  south- 
west to  the  Meurthe.  To  the  northeast,  beyond  the  frontier, 
the  high  sandstone  hills  flanking  the  Vosges  are  irregularly 
dissected  by  the  headwaters  of  the  Sarre.  The  sandstones  are 
followed  on  the  northwest  by  the  overlying  limestones,  which 
form  a  lower  rolling  surface  subdivided  by  the  valleys  of  the 
Vezouse,  the  Sanon,  and  their  branches,  partly  shown  on  the 
1 :  100,000  map,  pages  60,  61. 

When  regarded  northeastward  from  favorable  points  of  view,  the 
general  profile  of  the  cleared  hills  which  make  up  the  rolling  surface 
between  the  main  vallej^s  may  be  seen  to  rise  toward  the  moun- 
tains, thus  forming  the  seventh  upland  belt,  and  then  fall  off  in  a 
low  scarp  before  the  ascent  of  the  first  sandstone  ridge  is  begun :  but 
the  scarp  is  so  often  cut  back  by  many  little  valleys  and  ravines  that 
its  scalloped  front  has  little  continuity :  these  features  are  continued 
northeastward,  beyond  the  frontier.  If  the  rolling  surface  is  followed 
northwestward,  residual  hills  of  the  next  overlying  strata,  mostly 
forested,  are  found  along  the  divide  between  the  Sanon  and  the 
Seille  near  the  frontier,  between  the  Sanon  and  Vezouse,  and  less 
distinctly  between  the  Vdzouse  and  the  Meurthe;  then  bej'ond  the 
junction  of  the  Sanon  and  the  Meurthe  a  well  defined  scarp  rises  to 
the  broad  surface  (350-400  m.)  of  the  sixth  upland  belt,  which  will 
be  followed  from  south  to  north  in  a  later  paragraph.  The  streams 
by  which  this  section  is  limited  and  divided  have  the  habit,  like  many 
others  in  this  region,  of  flowing  in  a  very  irregular  course  on  the  flat 
floor  of  a  winding  valley,  one  or  two  k.  wide;  a  reason  for  this 
behavior  will  be  suggested  in  the  account  of  the  Meuse,in  section  38. 

It  was  in  this  district,  between  the  Vosges  on  the  southeast  and 
the  sixth  upland  belt  on  the  northwest,  that  the  German  army  in 
August,  1914,  crossed  the  upper  Meurthe  and  advanced  half  way 


\'ALLEYS  OF  THE  MEURTHE  AND  THE  MOSELLE     59 

over  the  hills  to  the  upper  Moselle;  they  were  later  forced  back 
almost  to  the  frontier,  northeast  of  the  Meurthe,  where  the  fighting 
front  lias  since  remained  with  little  change.  Ruined  villages,  such 
as  \'itrimont  on  the  Meurthe  below  Lun6ville  and  Gerb^viller  on 
the  Mortagne,  mark  the  temporarily  invaded  area. 

The  chief  cit\'  of  this  area  is  Luneville,  on  the  widened 
valley  floor  (230  m.)  at  the  confluence  of  the  Vezouse  and  the 
Meurthe.  The  Eastern  railway,  coming  from  Paris  and 
Xancy,  ascends  the  Meurthe  valley  to  this  point  and  then 
turns  up  the  Vezouse  toward  the  frontier.  Branch  lines  run 
up  other  valleys  to  the  Vosges,  and  up  the  Moselle  to  Epinal 
and  beyond.  The  valleys  are  also  followed  by  branching 
highways.  An  important  canal,  crossing  the  Meuse  and  the 
Moselle  on  its  way  from  the  Marne  to  the  Rhine,  turns  from 
the  valley  of  the  ^Meurthe  and  ascends  that  of  the  Sanon  to 
the  frontier,  the  irregular  course  of  w^hich  is  described  in 
section  27. 

In  the  section  between  the  Meurthe  and  the  Moselle,  which 
is  unequall}'  divided  by  the  intermediate  valley  of  the  Mor- 
tagne,  the  basal  sandstones,  slanting  gently  northwest,  assume 
the  form  of  a  well  defined  upland  belt  (700  m.)  somewhat 
southeast  of  the  line  connecting  St.  Di6  and  Epinal,  with  a 
strong  frontal  scarp  toward  the  Vosges;  but  instead  of  being 
continuous,  the  upland  is  irregularly  incised  by  many  narrow 
valleys,  and  the  scarp  is  worn  into  a  frayed-out  pattern. 
These  details  of  form  are  beautifully  displayed  in  the  elabo- 
rately dissected  upland  area  west  of  St.  Di6,  which  bears  the 
Mortagne  and  other  forests;  yet  coniplicated  as  the  area  is 
when  seen  in  plan,  all  its  parts  are  merely  the  dissevered 
elements  of  a  cuesta-like  upland;  and  the  recognition  of  this 
fact  greatly  facilitates  the  appreciation  of  many  details  that 
might  otherwise  seem  unrelated. 


60 


THE  VOSGES  AND  ADJOINING  REGIONS 


Fig.  22.     The  Frontier  on  th: 


THE  FRONTIER  ON  THE  SIXTH  UPLAND  BELT   61 


..V-:,.      ""-^^^^4^ 


H'M.TirriiiJiUj.y 


i-. -A',  •'  ■.•   ,,,; 


:---^   <^-'.|^ 


[evknth  Upland  Bklt 


62  THE  VOSGES  AND  ADJOINING  REGIONS 

The  following  limestone  belt  repeats  the  features  above  described, 
except  that  more  of  its  uplands  are  forested.  The  tabular  limestone 
surface  of  the  sixth  upland  belt  (350  m.)  is  well  developed,  though 
of  moderate  extent,  in  the  narrowed  space  where  the  Meurthe  and 
the  Moselle  approach  each  other.  The  chief  place  in  this  section  is 
the  fortified  city  of  Epinal  (340  m.),  commanding  the  narrows  of  the 
elsewhere  open  Moselle  valley  where  it  cuts  through  the  slanting 
uplands  of  the  basal  sandstones. 

The  third  section,  southwest  of  the  Moselle,  is  much  more  exten- 
sive than  the  other  two :  it  is  characterized  by  the  great  extension  of 
the  basal  sandstones  which  here  lie  nearly  horizontal  and  stretch 
30  k.  south  westward  in  a  tabular  upland,  cut  into  separate  portions 
by  the  narrow  valleys  of  the  Coney,  Semouse,  and  Lanterne,  head- 
waters of  the  Saone.  A  noticeable  feature  of  this  section  is  a  range 
of  hills,  known  as  the  Monts  Faucilles,  which  divide  the  side  branches 
of  the  Moselle  southwest  of  Epinal  from  the  headwaters  of  the 
Saone;  the  hills  are  merely  remnants  of  the  next  strata  overlying  the 
sandstones,  which  are  naturally  enough  not  yet  completely  worn 
away  along  the  divide. 

Southwest  of  the  sandstone  area  the  overlying  limestones,  the 
seventh  belt  counting  eastward  from  Paris  —  see  the  map  on  p.  69 
—  rise  in  a  well  defined,  east-facing  scarp  west  of  the  uppermost 
Saone,  and  the  upland  surface  beyond  declines  gently  westward  to 
the  head  branches  of  the  Meuse;  hence  a  cuesta-Hke  upland  is  here 
formed  with  much  more  distinct  expression  than  in  the  same 
limestone  belt  farther  northeast. 

26.  The  Sixth  Upland  Belt.  The  limestones  of  the  sixth 
belt  form  a  well-marked  upland,  400  m.  in  altitude,  with  a  dis- 
tinct east-facing  scarp,  cut  into  many  scallops  by  transverse 
streams.  Near  its  southern  beginning,  it  forms  the  divide 
between  western  branches  of  the  Saone  and  the  head  of  the 
Marne;  from  20  to  40  k.  farther  north  it  is  obliquely  cut 
through  by  several  branches  of  the  Meuse  which  rise  on  the 
back  slope  of  the  seventh  upland  belt.  The  longitudinal  de- 
pressions which  adjoin  the  upland  on  either  side  are  not 


VALLEYS  OF  THE  MOSELLE  AND  THE  MEUSE    63 

smooth  surfaces,  but  are  incised  by  the  vallej-s  of  the  obhque 
streams,  though  to  a  less  depth  than  that  of  the  valleys 
through  the  upland. 

It  was  on  the  eastern  slope  of  this  upland  south  of  the  Meuse 
branches  and  on  the  Apance,  a  small  branch  of  the  upper  Saone,  that 
a  super-Zeppelin,  "  L-49,"  was  forced  by  five  French  aeroplanes  to 
land  during  its  return  from  a  raid  on  England.  It  was  capable  of 
making  5.5  or  GO  miles  an  hour,  with  a  crew  of  IS  men,  two  machine 
guns,  and  two  tons  of  bombs,  and  had  reached  a  height  of  4^  miles 
over  London,  where  the  temperature  was  —  33°  C.  with  a  strong 
north  wind.  Some  of  the  men  had  their  hands  frozen  and  were  half 
stupefied  with  the  cold.  They  were  prevented  from  destroying  the 
airship  after  landing  by  a  sportsman,  who  happened  upon  them; 
the  airship  was  thus  captured  intact  and  carefulh'  studied  by  French 
e.\p)erts.  On  the  same  date  the  frame  of  a  second  airship,  set  on  fire 
by  French  guns,  fell  at  St.  Clement  on  the  Meurthe  above  Lun6- 
ville;  and  a  third  was  destroyed  by  its  crew  after  landing  in  the 
French  Alps. 

Beyond  the  Meuse  branches,  the  upland  belt  turns  north- 
eastward and  the  upland  is  obliquely  traversed  by  the 
north-flowing  Madon,  which  joins  the  Moselle  above  Toul; 
at  the  entrance  of  this  oblique  valley  lies  Mirecourt:  several 
detached  outliers  rise  southeast  of  the  upland  scarp  toward 
Epinal.  After  resuming  its  northward  course,  the  upland 
scarp  Is  skirted  on  the  east  for  15  k.  by  the  Moselle;  when 
this  river  approaches  within  12  k.  of  the  Meurthe,  both  rivers 
(low  northwestward  through  oblique  gateways  in  the  upland 
i;elt.  A  fine  view  is  obtained  from  the  crest  of  the  upland 
between  the  two  rivers  far  southeastward,  up  the  two  valleys 
and  acro.ss  the  uplands  between  them  to  the  Vosges,  50  k. 
distant:  in  the  opposite;  direction,  the  strong  scarp  of  the 
fifth  upland  belt  is  seen  beyond  the  depression  that  separates 
the  two  uplands.  North  of  the  Meurthe,  tlie  sixth  upland 
l>elt  advances  northeastward  and    broadens   in  somewhat 


64  THE  VOSGES  AND  ADJOINING  REGIONS 

tabular  form:  there  it  is  cut  through  by  the  Seille,  a  small 
stream  of  very  winding  course,  which  marks  the  frontier:  the 
further  northward  extension  of  the  upland  will  be  described 
in  chapter  XIII. 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  rivers  hereabouts  do  not  follow  the 
depression  between  the  sixth  and  fifth  uplands,  but  cross  it  and  the 
adjoining  uplands  with  little  regard  to  the  relief  of  the  surface.  On 
the  other  hand  the  depression,  although  by  no  means  a  level  surface, 
is  continuous  enough  to  be  followed  by  lines  of  communication  and 
occupied  by  villages,  both  of  which  avoid  the  uplands.  The  river 
gateways  or  gaps  through  the  upland  belts  open  easy  lines  of  travel 
between  the  neighboring  depressions. 

27.  The  Frontier  from  the  Sixth  Upland  Belt  to  the  Vosges. 
The  frontier  dividing  Lothringen  from  Lorraine,  as  established 
in  I87I,  ascends  the  incised  course  of  the  meandering  Seille 
southeastward  through  the  sixth  upland  belt,  but  departs 
from  that  small  stream  on  reaching  the  more  open  country 
of  the  seventh  belt  and  runs  across  hills  and  valleys  to  the 
Vosges.  After  crossing  the  upper  Sanon  it  runs,  as  in  Fig.  22, 
about  halfway  between  the  headwaters  of  the  Vezouse  and  the 
Sarre,  traverses  the  double  sandstone  ridges  at  the  head  of 
the  Plaine,  and  then  rises  to  the  mountam  crest.  Through 
the  middle  of  this  distance  of  60  k.,  the  boundary  line  is  not 
signalized  by  any  striking  topographic  features:  the  lime- 
stone country  on  one  side  of  it  is  much  like  that  on  the  other. 
The  adjoining  German  area  will  be  described  in  section  68. 

It  was  across  the  open  upland  of  the  seventh  belt  and  thence 
westward  through  gaps  in  the  sixth  belt  within  the  70  k.  space 
between  the  fortresses  of  Epinal  and  Toul,  that  French  military 
writers  during  the  period  following  the  war  of  1870  thought  the 
next  German  attack  would  be  made,  and  truly  enough  a  strong 
advance  was  there  attempted,  as  above  noted :  but  the  main  line 
of  the  German  invasion  in  1914  was  through  neutral  Belgium. 


CHAPTER  VI 

FROM  THE  PLATEAU  OF  LANGRES  TO  LORRAINE 

28.  The  Plateau  of  Laugres.  The  saddle  where  the  strata  of 
the  Paris  ba.sin  arch  over  the  high  depression  between  the  still 
higher  masses  of  the  Vosges  on  the  northeast  and  the  Morvan 
on  the  southwest  is  known  in  part  as  the  plateau  of  Langres, 
from  an  old  fortified  town  that  occupies  one  of  its  spurs:  the 
saddle  constitutes  the  northwestern  half  of  the  old  province 
of  Bourgogne  or  Burgundy.  It  is  composed  of  resistant 
limestones  that  ascend  gradually  from  the  northwest,  arch 
over  the  saddle  at  an  altitude  of  550  m.,  and  descend  south- 
eastward in  a  rapid  and  well  dissected  slope,  known  as  la 
Cote  d'Or,  famous  for  its  "  Burgundy  "  vineyards. 

Tlio  slope  ('lids  in  an  cscarpniont,  100  or  L50  ni.  in  liciffht,  made 
ragged  by  tho  notches  of  many  small  streams,  beyond  which  the 
broad  lowland  of  the  Saone  basin  —  the  plain  of  la  Bresse  —  is 
outspread. 

The  .Mjutliwestern  part  of  the  long  and  gradual  ascent  of  the 
platea'u  is  trenehed  and  divideil  intcj  .several  long  stri])s  by  the  sub- 
parallel  headwaters  of  the  Arman^on,  a  branch  of  the  Seine  system 
which,  more  directly  than  any  other,  lies  in  the  ui)-stream  prolonga- 
tion of  the  trunk  river  between  Rouen  and  Paris.  Here  from  time 
immemorial  travel  and  trallic  between  the  .southern  valley  of  the 
Rhone  —  "Provence"  —  and  northern  France  have  crossed  the 
plateau:  a  Roman  highway,  jjlaced  on  one  of  the  narrow  plateau 
Htrips  for  safety  from  attaek,  is  still  traceable  for  2')  k.;  a  de- 
tached hill  now  known  as  Ml.  Au.xois  (4 IS  m.)  at  the  end  of  one 
of  the  Ktrip.s  in  the  Hite  of  Alesia  ("  Ipsum  enit  oppidum  Alcsia  in 
colle  summo,  admodum  edito  loco,  ut  nisi  t)bsi(lione  expugnavi  non 
po.s.He    videretur  "),    a   stronghold  where   N'ercingetori.x,   who    had 

CI 


66  PLATEAU  OF  LANGRES  TO  LORRAINE 

gathered  all  the  tribes  of  Gaul  to  his  aid,  was  finally  overcome  by- 
Caesar,  B.C.  52.  The  ancient  name  is  still  preserved  in  Alise  Ste. 
Reine,  a  village  at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  The  plateau  is  now  crossed  by 
a  national  road,  a  canal  connecting  the  Seine  and  Rhone  river  sys- 
tems, and  the  main  line  of  the  "  P.  L.  M."  railway  which,  after 
ascending  the  ArmanQon  valley  near  each  other,  follow  different 
lines  over  the  high  ground,  but  which  all  come  together  again  at  the 
base  of  the  Cote  d'Or,  where  the  city  of  Dijon  (76,847)  lies  at  a 
valley  mouth. 

29.  The  Fifth  Upland  Belt:  Southern  Part.  The  fifth  upland 
belt,  maintained  by  a  series  of  resistant  limestones  and  shown 
in  most  of  its  curved  length  on  the  map,  p.  69,  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  members  of  the  upland  series.  Its  southern 
part  is  divided  into  two  steps,  of  which  the  eastern  and  lower 
one  forms  a  bench  below  the  higher  or  main  member:  but 
the  two  parts  approach  and  coalesce  farther  north.  Near  the 
southern  beginning  of  this  complex  belt,  the  crest  of  the  main 
upland  is  sharply  defined  with  a  precipitous  but  irregular 
scarp,  to  the  east  of  which  the  lower  member  or  bench,  the 
sixth  upland  belt  and  the  seventh  follow  in  regular  order,  but 
with  very  irregular  pattern  when  seen  in  plan,  as  shown  in 
Fig.  23. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  access  from  Germany  to  the  plain 
{la  Bresse)  of  the  Saone  through  the  narrow  and  hilly  gateway 
between  the  Vosges  and  the  Jura  is  guarded  by  the  strong  fortress 
of  Belfort,  and  that  advance  from  the  plain  of  the  Saone  over  the 
plateau  of  Langres  involves  the  ascent  of  the  steep  Cote  d'Or  or  the 
traverse  of  the  four  benched  uplands  to  the  north  of  it,  before  the 
basin  of  Paris  can  be  entered,  it  is  clear  that  invasion  of  France  from 
this  side  can  not  be  easily  accomplished. 

The  ancient  walled  city  of  Langres,  from  which  the  adjoining 
plateau  takes  its  name,  stands  on  a  sharp  spur-end  in  the  main  scarp 
(470  m.)  of  the  fifth  belt,  where  it  enjoys  a  broad  eastward  view 
across  the  bench  and  the  lower  belts,  and  commands  the  pass  (400m.) 


UPLAND  BENCHES  EAST  OF  LANGRES 


67 


between  the  headwaters  of  the  Marne  and  the  Saone.  This  city  is 
one  of  the  few  in  France  situated  on  the  crest  of  an  upland  belt;  its 
importance  is  less  now  than  formerly,  for  modern  tra\tl  and  traffic 
by  road,  canal,  and  railway  pay  little  heed  to  the  old-fashioned  town, 
perched  above  the  clilTs  over  the  pass;  its  isolation  combined 
domination  with  safety  in  the  middle  ages,  but  now  turns  to  its 
disadvantage. 

The  northwestern  slope  of  the  main  member  of  the  fifth  belt  is  a 
forested  and  sparsely  inhabited  upland  for  some  distance  north  of 
Langres,  almost  waterless  because  its  determining  limestones  are 
pervious  to  rainfall:   it  is  deeply  incised  by  many  northwestward 


MARNE 


1         '  '    ~^^ 


Fig.  23.     Upland  Benches  East  of  Langres 

valleys  and  ra\anes,  and  is  known  as  la  Montagne  to  the  villagers  in 
the  next  following  depression,  which  is  there  called  la  ValUe. 

Next  north  of  Langres  a  road  lies  near  the  edge  of  the  lower  mem- 
ber or  bench  of  the  fifth  belt,  so  as  to  avoid  the  valleys  that  are 
incised  in  its  back  slope  by  the  headwaters  of  the  Marnc.  This 
winding  river,  which  here  pursues  a  northwestward  course,  cuts  a 
valley  gateway  through  the  main  body  of  the  upland;  the  valley 
sides  decrease  in  height  as  the  river  winds  its  way  through  the  lower- 
ing back  slope  of  the  upland.  A  similar  through-valley  is  cut  by  the 
Hognon,  a  branch  of  the  Marne,  which  comp(ites  with  the  head  of 
the  Meu.se  for  the  drainage  of  the  sixth  ui)land  hereabouts. 

30.  riu:  Fifth  i'plaiKl  licit:  Middle  I'<irl.  Beyond  the 
Mamo  and  30  k.  north  of  Langres,  tiic  two  iiiciiihors  of  tlic 
fifth  upland  belt,  which  were  5  or  10  k.  ujjart  and  of  very  irrcg- 


68  PLATEAU  OF  LANGRES  TO  LORRAINE 

ular  pattern  near  Langres,  approach  to  within  2  k.  of  each 
other,  and  the  general  line  of  their  double  scarp  becomes  fairly 
direct:  thus  the  belt  assumes  a  simpler  form.  The  sharp 
edge  of  the  main  scarp  rises  above  the  bench  in  a  strong  crest 
(480  m.),  which  retreats  where  valleys  are  cut  through  it  and 
advances  between  them  in  pointed  salients;  but  all  its  parts 
are  systematically  related  as  the  dissevered  members  of  a 
single  upland  belt. 

Between  40  and  70  k.  north  of  the  Marne  breach  by  Langres, 
five  neighboring  eastern  branches  of  the  Meuse  deserve  mention. 
Several  of  them  rise  on  the  back  slope  of  the  seventh  upland  belt  and 
cut  through  the  sixth,  both  of  these  belts  being  well  developed  here- 
abouts; the  streams,  then  entrenching  their  courses  to  a  moderate 
depth  across  the  depression  between  the  sixth  and  fifth  belts,  cut 
close-set,  oblique  vallej^s  through  the  fifth  upland,  thus  dividing  it 
into  a  number  of  separate  masses  (480  m.)  of  small  area,  the  south- 
eastern scarp  of  each  being  skirted  by  its  lower  bench.  Neuf- 
chateau  lies  here  on  the  Meuse  in  the  back  slope  of  the  fifth  belt, 
as  will  be  further  stated  in  section  36. 

Outliers  of  the  fifth-belt  limestones  surmount  the  frontal  depres- 
sion by  150  m.  in  this  district  and  provide  excellent  points  of 
inspection,  from  which  not  only  the  variety  of  local  features  but 
also  the  essential  continuity  of  the  sixth  and  fifth  upland  belts 
on  the  east  and  west  is  clearly  apparent,  in  spite  of  the  repeated 
trenching  that  has  dissevered  their  parts.  Farther  north,  the  scarp 
of  the  fifth  belt  is  deeply  indented  by  frontal  ravines,  but  the  belt  as 
a  whole  is  not  cut  through  in  the  30  k.  stretch  beyond  Neufchateau. 

The  Moselle  cuts  an  important  breach  through  the  fifth 
upland  belt,  and  12  k.  farther  north  the  Meurthe  enters 
obliquely  into  the  upland;  but  this  river,  instead  of  flowing 
through  the  upland,  merely  cuts  off  a  segment  of  its  front,  as 
is  further  stated  below.  The  broad  top  (400  m.)  of  the  upland 
north  of  the  Moselle  breach  is  covered  with  the  Forest  of 
Haye;  its  bold  east-facing  scarp,  sharply  indented  by  many 


UPL.\ND  BELTS  OF  THE  MEUSE  AND  MOSELLE     69 


J  Luxembourtr 


'o           :7'o41le!s 
irK=3     /T s^g 


Fio.  24.    Thk  FouiiTH,  hirru,  and  Sixth  Upland  Belts 


70 


PLATEAU  OF  LANGRES  TO  LORRAINE 


ravines,  is  closely  skirted  by  the  frontal  bench,  here  reduced 
to  small  breadth.  The  important  city  of  Nancy  (220  m.)  Hes 
beneath  the  bench  near  the  obHque  entrance  of  the  Meurthe. 
Many  small  villages  lie  on  the  benched  slope  of  the  upland 


ORNt 


Fig.  25.     The  Meuse,  the  Moselle,  and  the  Meurthe 

Abbreviations:  L,  Lun^ville;  M,  Metz;  N,  Nancy;  S,  St.  Mihiel;  T,  Toul. 

front  hereabouts,  a  Httle  below  the  level  where  springs  issue, 
as  determined  by  the  junction  of  the  pervious  overlying  lime- 
stones with  the  impervious  underlying  marls.  The  hills 
of  the  upland  north  of  the  Meurthe  are  known  as  le  Grand 


FOURTH,  FIFTH,  AND  SIXTH  UPLAND  BELTS     71 

Couronne;  the}'  were  held  by  the  Fi-ench  against  assaults 
directed  against  Nancy  in  the  second  month  of  the  war,  when 
large  numbers  of  Germans — 40,000,  it  is  said  —  were  killed 
at  the  base  of  the  hill  slopes.    Although  unsuccessful  in  their 


N  THK  FoiFtTii,  Firm,  and  Sixth  Ui'land  lii:i/is 

main  object,  the  enemy  front  has  been  maintained  l)ut  a  short 
distance  away,  and  Nancy  has  been  siil)i('ct  to  b()iiil);ii(lin('nt 
ever  since. 

Thr'  ropratr^d  transvorso  dissoction  of  the  upland  belt  y(\\v^  it  an 
irregular,  indeed  a  coiifu.sed  outline  on  the  map,  because  the  stream 


72  PLATEAU  OF  LANGRES  TO  LORRAINE 

courses  are  not  geometrical  in  their  arrangement;  but  if  the  sepa- 
rated parts  of  the  upland  are  carefully  examined  the  systematic 
control  of  their  unsymmetrical,  east-west  profiles  by  the  moderate 
slant  of  their  strata  becomes  apparent,  as  is  shown  in  the  bird's-ej^e 
diagram,  pp.  70,  71.  Each  part  of  the  upland  resembles  a  slanting 
bastion,  highest  at  the  apex  of  its  advancing  and  scalloped  scarp, 
regularly  declining  along  its  indented  flanks ;  the  successive  bastions 
are  of  different  size  and  pattern  in  plan,  according  to  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  transverse  streams;  but  in  profile  they  are  all  much 
alike.  The  irregularly  detached  hills  beyond  the  Meurthe  are  of 
more  tabular  form,  having  rather  steep  slopes  on  all  sides. 

3L  The  Elbow  of  the  Moselle.  The  course  of  the  main  rivers  in 
this  district  is  peculiar :  the  Moselle  formerly  flowed  northwestward 
not  only  through  the  sixth  and  the  fifth  upland  belts,  as  it  does 
today,  but  into  the  fourth  also,  where  it  joined  the  Meuse.  At  that 
time  as  now  the  north-flowing  Meurthe  entered  into  the  fifth  upland 
belt,  but  instead  of  running  through  it,  followed  a  deeply  incised 
valley  a  few  kilometers  west  of  the  upland  front  and  then  ran  out 
again.  A  much  dissected  segment  of  the  upland,  40  k.  in  length,  was 
thus  cut  off  from  the  main  mass.  Farther  on,  the  river,  leaving  the 
upland  intact,  pursued  its  course  northward  and  northeastward  to 
the  Rhine.  Where  the  two  rivers  entered  the  fifth  belt,  the  Meurthe 
was  the  more  deeply  incised  in  the  frontal  depression  by  some  50  m. ; 
and  as  a  result  one  of  its  branches,  heading  to  the  southwest  in  the 
depression  between  the  fifth  and  fourth  uplands,  slowly  extended  its 
length  by  retrogressive  erosion  in  the  weak  strata  there  occurring 
and  thus  in  time  tapped  the  Moselle,  diverted  it  from  the  Meuse 
which  was  thereby  much  diminished  in  volume,  and  led  it  to  join  the 
Meurthe  which  was  thereby  as  much  increased. 

At  the  point  of  diversion,  the  Moselle,  now  narrowly  entrenched 
below  the  broad  floor  of  its  former  course,  makes  a  sharp  turn, 
known  as  an  "  elbow  of  capture  ";  there  stands  the  fortified  city  of 
Toul.  The  former  winding  course  of  the  Moselle,  known  as  le  Vol  de 
I'Ane,  through  the  fourth  upland  belt  will  be  described  below.  These 
changes  are  all  long  prehistoric:  had  they  happened  during  the 
course  of  human  history,  a  single  name,  such  as  Meurthe,  would 
undoubtedly  have  been  applied  to  the  whole  length  of  the  original 
tributary  of  the  Rhine,  and  another  name,  such  as  Moselle,  would 


THE  FIFTH  UPLAND  BELT  NEAR  METZ  73 

liave  been  given  to  the  shorter  river  above  the  point  of  confluence  to 
wliich  it  was  led  by  capture.  Unfortunately,  rivers  have  not  been 
named  in  view  of  their  origin  and  evolution,  but  in  an  arbitrary  and 
often  unreasonable  fashion:  hence  the  name  of  the  Moselle  like 
its  flowing  current  is  now  continued  to  the  Rhine;  and  the  name, 
Meurthe,  is  limited  to  the  upper  part  of  the  aboriginal  river. 

32.  The  Fifth  Upland  Belt:  Xortheni  Part.  The  sogmont  of 
the  fifth  upland  belt, set  off  asabove  noted  from  the  main  body 
bv  the  valley  of  the  Mciirthe-Moselle,  is  widest  at  the  south- 
em  end,  where  it  is  cut  into  several  irregular  tabular  masses 
(400  m.),  which  advance  eastward  and  surmount  by  150  m. 
the  gentle  back  slope  of  the  lower  sixth  belt;  and  this  belt 
also  advances  eastward  in  tabular  form  hereabouts.  The 
northern  part  of  the  segment,  Fig.  2G,  forms  a  hilly  ridge  only 
three  k.  wide  between  the  incised  frontal  valley  of  the  Seille 
on  the  east  and  the  broader  valley  of  the  ]\Io.selle;  the  ridge  is 
breached  20  k.  from  its  northern  end,  where  the  Seille  flows 
nearest  to  its  eastern  base.  The  villages  of  Ste.  Genevieve 
(320  m.)  and  Mous.son  (380  m.)  occupy  the  hilltops  on  the 
opposite  sides  of  the  breach;  below  the  latter  is  the  town  of 
Pont-a-Mousson,  on  both  sides  of  the  Moselle.  The  fortified 
city  of  Metz  (08,598;  in  French,  pronounced  Mens;  in  Ger- 
man. Metz)  borders  the  river  north  of  the  cut-ofT  segment. 

The  main  Ix^dyof  the  fifth  upland  back  of  the  cut-(jfi"  segment,  like 
the  whole  body  of  the  upland  farther  north,  is  more  or  less  indented 
by  tlic  ravines  of  a  number  of  short  east-flowing  streams,  and  is  cut 
ihrouglnjut  by  two  longer  streams  wiiicli  lead  (he  (iraiiiagc  of  tiie 
broad  «lepres.sion  orj  the  west  through  winding  northeastward  gorges, 
dw'ix'ning  a.s  the  upland  ri.ses,  to  the  Moselle.  One  of  the  longer 
streams,  named  the  Hu[)t  de  Mad,  will  be  further  referred  to  Ix-low 
in  eonnection  with  tln'  fourth  upland  belt;  the  more  northern 
-treum,  the  Orne,  hu-s  a  length  of  FA)  k.  and  joins  the  Moselle  not  far 
north  of  .Met/,;    its  narrow,  deeix-ning,  and  singularly  .serpentine 


74 


PLATEAU  OF  LANGRES  TO  LORRAINE 


ittl 


•1  UM  (tc  VjHi  PS  ^^^ 


Fig.  26.    The  Fifth  Upland  Belt  and  th 


THE  MOSETJ.E  SOUTH  OE  ^TETZ 


75 


^   M.u'Kniflt' 


(^AtnA'/t/.-..  ,■ 


Jl.mr>«ni(BnBijJ 


'7  /fcp 

-'."■•//•JA- 


tHl 


AI.U.V    Oi     nil.    .McjSiKLI.K,  .^'il .1  II    MK    Ml. I/. 


76  PLATEAU  OF  LANGRES  TO  LORRAINE 

gorge  crosses  the  frontier  in  the  long  western  slope  of  the  upland 
belt.  These  obUque  gorges  are  too  narrow  and  sinuous  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  main  roads,  several  of  which  cross  over  the  upland;  but 
each  gorge  is  followed  by  a  railway  and  a  secondary  road. 

33.  The  Frontier  on  the  Fifth  Upland  Belt.  The  irregular  and 
apparently  arbitrary  course  of  the  frontier  with  respect  to 
topographic  features  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  this  district. 
It  follows  the  winding  course  of  the  Seille  through  the  tabular 
eastern  extension  of  the  sixth  upland  belt,  as  already  stated; 
then  as  that  stream  turns  north  along  the  narrow  part  of  the 
third  upland  segment,  the  frontier  passes  obliquely  over  the 
segment,  crosses  the  open  valley  of  the  Moselle  north  of 
Pont-a-Mousson,  traverses  the  crest  of  the  main  body  of  the 
fifth  upland  by  a  most  rambling  course,  and  turns  northward 
on  its  western  slope,  as  shown  in  part  on  the  detailed  maps, 
pp.  74,  75,  and  78,  79,  and  also  in  Fig.  28. 

The  fortified  city  of  Metz,  German  since  1871,  lies  as  above  noted 
on  the  Moselle  (170  ra.)  just  north  of  its  exit  from  the  incised  valley; 
here  the  upland  (350  m.)  is  strong  and  intact;  the  map  on  pages  78 
and  79  shows  its  cleared  upper  surface,  with  its  scarp,  irregularly 
frayed  out  and  forest  covered,  from  the  summits  of  which  an  exten- 
sive eastward  view  over  the  Lorraine  plateau  may  be  gained;  the 
map  also  shows  the  low  bench  fronting  the  scarp  base  and  the  open 
floor  of  the  Moselle  valley,  where  an  ancient  Roman  road  still  in  use, 
a  highway,  and  a  railway  are  laid  between  the  bench  and  the  river. 
The  river,  after  receiving  the  Seille  at  the  northern  end  of  the  de- 
tached segment  of  the  upland,  flows  30  k.  northward  near  the  base 
of  the  bold  upland  scarp,  before  bending  to  the  northeast  to  flow 
through  the  sixth  upland  belt,  as  will  be  further  described  in  the 
account  of  the  Lorraine  plateau  in  chapter  XIIL  Thionville  (Ger- 
man, Diedenhofen)  lies  at  the  bend  (148  m.);  the  fifth  upland  belt 
(400  m.)  here  presents  a  scarp  with  the  unusual  height  of  250  m. 

The  frontier  hereabouts,  although  truly  irregular,  is  not 
arbitrarily  located:  its  course  over  the  fifth  upland  belt  was 


IRON  ORES  OF  THE  FIFTH  IPLAXD  BELT         77 

deterniined  after  the  Franco-Prussian  war  of  1870  by  the 
advice  of  a  (Jerman  geologist,  who  pointed  out  that  this 
upland  is  rich  in  vakiable  iron  ore  (niinctte),  of  especial 
importance  in  the  Bessemer  process  of  steel  making,  and  that 
by  shifting  the  frontier  from  the  base  of  the  upland  scarp, 
where  it  was  at  first  proposed,  a  few  kilometers  to  the  west 
a  large  share  of  the  ore  beds  woukl  be  transferred  to  Ger- 
many. For  this  reason  the  frontier,  after  crossing  the  Moselle 
between  Pont-a-Mousson  and  Metz  and  ascending  the  upland 
scarp,  runs  irregularly  northward  on  the  western  slope  of  the 
upland:  from  the  mines  there  located  a  great  share  of  Ger- 
many's iron  supply  was  drawn  before  1914. 

Many  sinelting  furnaces  have  been  erected  in  the  Moselle  valley, 
the  coal  used  there  being  brought  from  the  Sarre  basin  in  the  Lor- 
raine plateau  to  the  east,  to  be  described  in  a  later  section.  To 
IVance  was  left  only  a  lower  and  more  western  part  of  the  iron-ore 
beds,  known  as  the  liricy  area,  from  a  town  situated  on  the  western 
slope  of  the  upland.  Tlie  entire  iron-ore  field  of  this  area  also  has 
been  in  possession  of  Germany  since  August,  1914,  and  has  made  it 
pfj.ssible,  even  with  war  in  progress,  to  double  her  previous  enormous 
jjroduction  of  iron  and  steel. 

34.  The  Woevre  Lowland.  The  lowland  between  the  fifth 
and  fourth  upland  belts,  for  80  k.  north  of  the  elbow  of  the 
Moselle  at  Toul,  expands  to  a  notable  breadth  because  the 
belts  are  here  wide-spaced,  and  receives  a  special  name,  le 
W'oeire.  The  maximum  widtii  oi  the  lowland  is  lo  k.;  its 
gently  rolling  surface  has  an  altitude  of  about  230  m.;  many 
artificial  ponds  are  held  in  its  shallow  valleys;  extensive 
forests  overspread  its  low  hills:  its  central  area  is,  as  above 
noted,  drained  eastward  through  the  fifth  upland  ix'lt  to  the 
Mfjselje  by  the  Rui)t  de  M;i(i  and  the  ( )rne.  This  lowland 
will  be  referred  to  again  in  connecti(jn  with  \'ei(hin,  in  the 
fourth  upland  belt. 


78 


PLATEAU  OF  LANGRES  TO  LORRAINE 


FiQ.  27.    The  Fifth  Upland  Belt  and  tui 


THE  MOSELT^E  NORTH  OF  METZ 


79 


WUJfl  iJ/t 


VaLI-KY  ok  'IHK   MobfcLLK,    Nulc'IH    OF  MkTZ 


80  PLATEAU  OF  LANGRES  TO  LORRAINE 

35.  The  Fifth  and  Sixth  Upland  Belts:  Northernmost  Parts. 
About  10  k.  north  of  Thionville  the  fifth  upland  belt  turns 
westward  and  so  continues  for  nearly  150  k.,  as  shown  on  the 
outline  maps,  p.  69  and  p.  153.  Some  30  k.  farther  north 
the  sixth  belt,  returning  from  its  northeastward  detour  into 
Germany  (see  section  71),  also  trends  westward  along  the 
slope  that  gradually  ascends  northward  to  the  Ardennes  high- 
land. Both  belts  are  much  scalloped  b}^  the  notches  of  south- 
flowing  streams:  the  back  or  southward  slope  of  the  belts 
is  usually  cleared.  Within  and  north  of  the  sixth  belt  (the 
seventh  belt  is  not  represented)  the  rising  slope  of  the  Ar- 
dennes is  deeply  incised  by  the  remarkably  serpentine  valley 
of  the  Semois.  The  Luxembourg  frontier,  which  is  here  inter- 
posed for  8  k.  between  German  Lorraine  and  Belgium, 
and  the  Belgian  frontier  for  a  small  part  of  its  length  lie  on  the 
fifth  upland,  as  shown  in  Fig.  28. 

The  sixth  upland  belt  hereabouts  is  not  limited  on  its  exterior 
or  northern  side  by  a  well  defined  scarp,  but  merges  into  the  ascend- 
ing slope  of  the  Ardennes;  its  broadly  arched  liills  differ  from  those 
farther  north  more  in  their  calcareous  soil  than  in  their  form. 

The  continuity  of  the  fifth  upland  in  its  westward  course  is 
broken  by  several  streams,  the  largest  being  the  Chiers  which, 
coming  from  the  northeast,  swings  around  an  irregular  course 
convex  to  the  south  and  thus  runs  into  and  out  of  the  upland, 
cutting  off  a  40-k.  segment  of  its  front,  as  shown  in  Fig.  28 
in  much  simplified  form.  At  the  point  of  entrance,  the  stream 
is  140  m.  beneath  the  upland  crest  (400  m.) ;  here  the  fortified 
town  of  Longwy  lies  on  the  eastern  point  of  the  cut-off  seg- 
ment and  commands  the  approach  of  the  Chiers  valley  from 

Abbreviations  in  Fig.  28  :  A,  Arlon;  B,  Briey;  C,  Charleville;  D,  Dun-sur-Meuse; 
E,  Etain;  L,  Luxembourg;  M,  Metz;  N,  Stenay;  O,  Montm6dy;  S,  Sedan;  T,  Thion- 
ville; V,  Verdun;  Y,  Longwy;  Z,  M6zi6rps.  Frontier,  dotted:  Germany  and  Luxem- 
bourg in  foreground,  France  and  Belgium  beyond. 


CONVERGE^XE  OF  THE  UPLAND  BELTS 


81 


'26.     Upland  Belts  South  of  the  Akdennes,  looking  west 


82  PLATEAU  OF  LANGRES  TO  LORRAINE 

Luxembourg.  The  valley  of  the  Chiers  through  the  upland 
wanders  irregularly ;  Montmedy  lies  on  one  of  the  valley-side 
spurs  in  the  upland  not  far  from  the  river  exit. 

The  back  slope  of  the  fifth  upland  belt,  at  its  turn  from  a 
northward  to  a  westward  trend,  north  of  the  Briey  iron-ore 
district,  is  drained  by  the  Crusnes,  which  joins  the  Chiers  at 
the  southernmost  point  of  its  segment-cutting  curve.  The 
northern  part  of  the  Woevre  is  drained  northwestward  by  the 
Othain  and  Loison  to  the  Chiers;  like  the  Chiers,  all  three  of 
these  branch  streams  cut  narrow,  winding  valleys  in  the 
back  slope  of  the  upland. 

Farther  west,  the  upland,  much  narrower  than  near  Metz,  is 
obliquely  trenched  by  the  Meuse  (165  m.),  flowing  northwest; 
there  Stenay  and  Mouzon  lie  between  the  hills  of  the  upland 
(350  m.  on  east,  330  m.  on  southwest) :  it  thus  appears  that 
the  Meuse,  which  flows  obliquely  inward  through  the  fifth  up- 
land belt  between  Langres  and  Neufchateau,  flows  obliquely 
outward  through  it  south  of  the  Ardennes;  the  points  of 
entrance  and  exit  are  about  180  k.  apart.  Evidently  the 
northernmost  part  of  this  upland  belt,  reduced  in  width  to 
about  10  k.,  has  little  continuity:  nevertheless  the  form  and 
the  relative  positions  of  its  parts  are  best  appreciated  when 
they  are  recognized  as  belonging  together  although  cut 
apart  by  traversing  rivers. 

Mouzon  is  notable  as  marking  the  crossing  place  of  an  ancient 
Roman  road,  which  holds  an  almost  direct  course  over  hill  and  dale, 
stUl  followed  for  long  stretches  by  secondary  modern  roads,  between 
Rheims,  85  k.  distant  to  the  southwest,  and  Treves  (German,  Trier) 
on  the  Moselle,  110  k.  distant  to  the  east-northeast.  After  crossing 
the  high  crest  of  the  fourth  upland  belt  (336  m.),  the  road  descends 
and  traverses  the  lowland  (here  no  longer  called  the  Woevre)  be- 
tween the  fourth  and  fifth  belts  to  Mouzon;  it  then  passes  over  the 
fifth  upland  to  the  next  lowland,  where  Carignan  lies  at  the  crossing 


THE  MEUSE  AND  THE  CHIERS  83 

of  the  Chiers;  then  along  the  sixth  upland  belt  and  away.  Mouzon 
and  Carignan  are  therefore  good  examples  of  ancient  river-crossing 
towns,  the  general  location  of  which  is  dependent  upon  the  inter- 
section of  an  almost  direct  long-continued  road  with  the  rivers  on  its 
course,  though  the  precise  sites  of  crossing  were  probably  influenced 
by  suitable  points  for  fording,  at  which  bridges  were  later  built  as  the 
towns  grew  in  size. 

After  its  exit  from  the  fifth  upland  belt,  the  Chiers  flows 
westward  on  a  broad  flood  plain  through  the  lowland  between 
the  dissected  scarp  of  the  fifth  belt  on  the  south  and  the  long 
ixick  slope  of  the  sixth  belt  on  the  north.  Similarly  the 
Mouse,  after  issuing  from  the  fifth  belt  and  receiving  the 
Chiers,  wanders  on  the  same  wide  flood  plain  as  it  flows  west- 
ward through  the  lowland.  Sedan  of  fateful  memory  lies  six 
k.  below  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers.  The  heights  of 
the  fifth  belt  (346  m.),  here  much  narrower  than  farther  east, 
rise  rapidly  on  the  south;  the  cleared  back  slopes  of  the 
scalloped  sixth  belt  (310  m.)  ascend  slowly  on  the  north. 
Xext  west  of  Sedan,  the  Meuse  makes  a  strong  northward 
loop  into  the  back  slope  of  the  sixth  upland  belt;  farther  west 
it  makes  a  double  loop,  where  the  fortress  of  Mezieres  and  the 
city  of  Charleville  lie  near  each  other  on  the  lowland  (150  m.) 
with  the  river  between  them;  then  the  river  turns  north,  cuts 
througii  the  sixth  upland  belt  (280  m.),  and  enters  a  deep  and 
winding  gorge  which  it  follows  through  the  Ardennes.  The 
two  upland  belts  weaken  and  disappear  a  little  farther  west. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  REGION  OF  THE  MEUSE 

36.  The  Fourth  Upland  Belt:  Southern  Part.  The  fourth 
upland  belt  has  a  greater  length  and  in  its  middle  a  greater 
breadth  than  any  other;  it  is  recognizable,  though  imperfectly 
developed,  along  the  northern  border  of  the  Central  High- 
lands west  of  the  broad  valleys  of  the  Loire  and  the  AUier; 
while  to  the  east  of  those  valleys  it  is  a  well  defined  lineament, 
although  cut  apart  by  many  streams,  through  all  the  350  k,  of 
its  rounded  northward  course,  Fig.  24,  which  leads  it  nearly  to 
the  Ardennes.  Its  limestones  are  less  pure  and  their  forms 
are  less  bold  than  those  of  the  fifth  belt;  its  cross  profile  as 
a  whole  is  gracefully  but  unsymmetrically  arched;  its  east- 
facing  scarp  is  delicately  scalloped  and  its  gray  frontal  slopes 
are  generally  cleared;  its  broad  upland  and  long  descending 
slope  are  usually  carved  into  rounded  hills,  many  of  which  are 
too  dry  for  repaying  cultivation  and  are  therefore  largely  left 
to  tree  growth. 

Railways  follow  nearly  all  the  many  cross-valleys,  of  which  the 
northernmost  is  that  of  the  Marne,  that  traverse  the  southern  part 
of  the  fourth  upland  belt;  hence  these  railways,  river-like,  converge 
and  unite  on  their  way  toward  the  metropolis  at  the  center  of  the 
upland  arcs;  but  here  a  circumferential  railway  also  is  seen,  follow- 
ing the  inter-upland  depression  between  the  fifth  and  fourth  belts 
through  the  southern  half  of  its  long  curve,  because  of  the  impor- 
tance given  to  it  by  its  breadth,  for  the  crests  of  the  fifth  and  fourth 
belts  are  40  k.  apart  in  the  south.  The  depression  between  them  is 
moderately  trenched  across  by  all  the  rivers  that  traverse  it. 

84 


SOUTHERN  PART  OF  THE  FOURTH  UPLAND  BELT  85 

As  a  result  of  the  widening  and  eastward  advance  of  the  fourth 
upland,  the  two  belts  converge  northeastward  and  the  depression 
between  them  narrows  until  their  crests  are  separated  by  only  14  k. 
where  the  five  dose-set  eastern  branches  of  the  Meuse,  mentioned 
in  section  30  as  trenching  the  fiftli  upland,  unite  with  the  main 
stream,  which  in  its  further  northward  course  obliquely  enters  the 
fourth  upland.  Here,  on  the  dissected  back  slope  of  the  fifth 
belt,  bordering  the  narrowed  depression,  Neufchateau  (310  m.)  is 
picturesquely  situated,  20  m.  above  the  level  of  the  incised  streams 
and  130  m.  below  the  crest  of  the  fourth  upland  which  rises  abruptly 
a  short  distance  to  the  northwest.  The  features  of  this  district  are 
therefore  typified  by  the  trenched  depression  at  the  right  end  of  the 
upper  diagram,  p.  47. 

Neufchateau  is  a  center  for  a  number  of  radiating  railways  and 
liighways.  which  run  in  pairs  along  the  circumferential  depression 
between  the  fifth  and  fourth  upland  belts  southwestward  to  Chau- 
mont-en-Bassigny  on  the  !Marne,  and  northeastward  to  Toul  and 
Nancy;  also  up  the  Meuse,  thus  passing  through  the  fifth  upland 
bolt  and  joining  other  roads  by  the  Alarne  beneath  Langres;  and 
down  the  Meu.se  to  the  main  line  of  the  Eastern  railway  west  of 
Toul ;  also  southeastward  up  a  branch  of  the  Meuse  on  the  way  to 
Mirecourt  in  the  sixth  upland  belt  and  bcA'ond;  and  a  railway  crosses 
over  the  fourth  bolt  west  and  nortliwest  to  the  Ornain. 

37.  The  Fourth  rpland  Belt:  Northern  Part.  Next  north 
of  Neufchateau  the  fourth  upland  belt  attains  its  greatest 
breadth  of  50  k.  Here  the  valley  of  the  Meuse  obliquely 
enters  the  main  body  of  the  upland  and  110  k.  farther  north 
flows  ol)li(iuely  out  again,  thus  cutting  off  a  long  segment, 
which  is  kncnvn  where  it.s  breadth  is  greatest  as  the  Cdtes  de 
Meune.  This  part  of  the  Meuse  valley  may  therefore  be 
likened  to  the  chord  of  an  arc,  but  it  has  nothing  of  the  single- 
minded  directness  of  a  geometrical  line:  its  general  trend  to 
tiie  north-northwest  is  bent  eastward  to  the  mouth  of  the  Val 
do  I'Ane  where  the  Moselle  formerly  flowed  west,  before  it  was 
diverted  at  the  elbow  of  capture  by  Toul.     .Ml  along  this 


86  THE  REGION  OF  THE  MEUSE 

course  the  valley  is  gracefully  serpentine,  while  the  river  has 
an  even  more  elaborately  sinuous  course  in  the  smooth  mead- 
ows of  the  serpentine  valley  floor.  Through  all  this  distance 
the  main  body  of  the  upland,  west  of  the  river,  is  not  cut 
through  by  any  stream.  Indeed,  from  the  oblique  trench  of 
the  Marne,  the  main  body  of  the  upland  is  not  transversely 
trenched  for  170  k. ;  but  near  its  farther  end,  where  the  crest, 
declining  northwestward,  has  altitudes  of  about  300  m.,  it  is 
traversed  by  a  small  stream,  the  Bar,  as  will  be  further  stated 
below. 

The  main  body  of  the  upland,  has,  nevertheless,  a  varied  form. 
Its  eastern  slope  is  deeply  indented  by  several  short  east-flowing 
branches  of  the  Meuse,  south  and  north  of  the  former  junction  of  the 
upper  Moselle.  The  broadest  part  of  its  western  slope,  opposite  the 
first  half  of  the  cut-off  segment,  is  overlapped  by  a  subordinate 
upland,  with  a  greatly  dissected  front  nearly  100  m.  in  height, 
shown  in  part  on  the  detailed  map,  page  94;  and  the  back  slope  of 
this  upland,  elaborately  carved  into  rounded  hills  by  many  small 
streams,  is  obliquely  incised  for  distances  of  30  k.  by  the  Ornain,  a 
branch  of  the  Marne,  and  by  the  Aire,  a  branch  of  the  Aisne-Oise, 
both  flowing  northwest.  Transverse  transportation  lines  must  there- 
fore either  climb  over  or  tunnel  through  the  northern  part  of  the 
fourth  upland  belt. 

The  main  line  of  the  Eastern  railway  —  Chemin  de  Fer  de 
I'Est  —  from  Paris  follows  up  the  Marne  and  the  Ornain  to 
the  western  slope  of  the  fourth  upland  belt,  where  Bar-le-Duc 
(181  m.)  lies  on  the  last  named  river;  the  railway  continues 
for  a  short  distance  southeastward  and  then  turns  northeast- 
ward and  crosses  over  the  upland  at  an  altitude  of  325  m.; 
a  broad  view  is  gained  from  the  treeless  crest,  before  descent 
is  made  to  the  open  valley  of  the  Meuse  (240  m.) ;  this  is  fol- 
lowed southeastward  to  the  Val  de  I'Ane,  through  which  the 
railway  turns  east  to  Toul  on  the  way  to  Nancy;  other  lines 


THE  UNDERFIT  MEUSE  87 

branch  up  the  Meuse  to  Neufchdteau  (section  36)  and  down 
the  Meuse  to  Verdun  and  beyond. 

A  secondary  line  and  the  ]\Iarne-Rhine  canal  continue  up 
the  Ornain  farther  than  the  main  line  of  the  Eastern  railway, 
following  a  part  of  the  river  where  it  flows  in  a  minutely 
sinuous  channel  along  an  incised  meandering  valley;  the  rail- 
way continues  southeastward  over  the  upland  to  Neuf- 
chateau:  the  canal  turns  eastward,  tunnels  4  k.  through  the 
upland  to  a  small  valley  of  the  eastern  slope  which  it  follows 
down  to  the  Meuse;  beyond  that  river  the  canal  turns,  like 
the  main  railway  line,  through  the  Val  de  I'Ane  to  Toul; 
thence  down  the  new  course  of  Moselle  and  up  the  Meurthe 
to  Xancy  on  its  farther  way,  which  has  been  described  in  sec- 
tion 25. 

38.  The  Underfit  Meuse.  The  uncertain,  hesitating  course  of  the 
Meuse  through  the  flood-plain  meadows  of  its  meandering  valley 
deserves  further  mention.  It  runs  anywhere  but  around  its  valley 
curves;  it  is  thus  unlike  the  lower  Seine,  which  swings  vigorously 
around  and  fits  closely  into  the  large  curves  of  its  meandering  val- 
ley through  the  chalk  uplands  of  Normandy;  and  unlike  the  lower 
Moselle,  which  in  similarly'  well-ordered  fashion  fits  the  meanders  of 
its  narrow  valley,  deeply  incised  in  the  Slate-mountain  highlands  on 
the  way  to  thf  Rhine.  The  elaborately  sinuous  Meuse  may  there- 
fore be  described  as  "  underfit,"  in  the  sense  of  being  incompetent 
to  follow  its  vallej'  curves;  it  thus  illustrates  a  curious  habit,  widely 
prevalent  among  the  smaller  rivers  of  northern  France,  such  as  the 
\'6zou.se,  the  ujjper  Meurthe,  the  Cliiers,  and  the  Ornain,  above 
mentioned,  and  the  Aisne,  the  Oise,  and  the  Somme,  to  be  described 
below. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  underfit  habit  of  these  rivers  is  due 
to  loss  (;f  river  volume  by  slow  uiiderllow  in  the  deej}  alluvium  — • 
gravels,  .sands,  and  silts  —  of  the  valley  floor;  thus  it  is  implied 
that  at  an  earlier  stage  of  development,  before  the  alluvium  of  the 
flood  i)Iain  was  deiKisited,  the  visible  river  carried  the  total  drainage 
of  its  bu.sin  in  its  channel,  and  was  for  a  time  large  and  vigorous 


88  THE  REGION  OF  THE  MEUSE 

enough  to  cut  out  the  curves  of  a  freely  meandering  valley,  into 
which  it  then  necessarily  fitted  because  they  were  its  own  product; 
but  later,  as  alluvium  began  to  accumulate  on  the  rock-bed  of  the 
valley,  the  visible  volume,  flowing  in  the  surface  channel,  was  de- 
creased by  the  amount  of  creeping  underflow  in  the  alluvium;  the 
deeper  the  alluvium  became  the  more  the  visible  river  flow  was  thus 
diminished,  until  at  the  present  stage  of  its  development  it  is  re- 
duced to  so  small  a  current  that  it  is  altogether  incompetent  to 
swing  around  the  valley  curves,  which  it  had  itself  previously  carved, 
as  is  clearly  shown  on  the  detailed  maps,  pp.  90  and  95. 

The  Meuse  may  therefore  be  taken  as  the  type  of  an  underfit 
river;  its  course  is  so  much  more  serpentine  than  that  of  the  valley 
that  it  sometimes,  as  at  points  near  St.  Mihiel  and  Verdun  on  the 
detailed  maps  above  noted,  flows  almost  backwards  towards  its 
source,  as  if,  with  loss  of  volume,  it  had  also  lost  the  sense  of  direc- 
tion and  knew  not  where  to  turn !  The  practical  application  of  this 
explanation  is  that  serpentine  valley  floors,  on  which  "underfit" 
rivers  wander  irregularly,  may  be  expected  to  have  a  deep  alluvial 
deposit  burying  their  rock  bottom. 

39.  St.  Mihiel  and  Verdun.  The  upland  segment  which, 
cut  off  from  the  main  body  of  the  fourth  upland  belt  by  the 
Meuse  valley,  forms  the  Cotes  de  Meuse,  is  breached  at  the 
first  quarter  of  its  100  k.  length  by  the  winding  Val  de  I'Ane, 
already  described  as  connecting  the  elbow  of  the  Moselle  with 
the  valley  of  the  Meuse,  and  as  marking  the  former  path  of 
one  river  to  its  confluence  with  the  other:  this  dry  valley 
today  serves  as  a  gap  for  highway,  canal,  and  railway  as  above 
noted;  the  first  crosses  over  one  of  its  valley-side  spurs  under 
which  the  other  two  pass  in  tunnels. 

A  little  farther  north  the  northeast-flowing  Rupt  de  Mad, 
one  of  the  branches  of  the  Moselle,  briefly  mentioned  in  sec- 
tion 32  as  trenching  the  fifth  upland  belt,  has  pushed  its  head 
so  far  westward  across  the  Woevre  lowland  by  retrogressive 
erosion  as  to  excavate  a  bight  or  concave  reentrant  in  the 


A 


THE  COTES  DE  MEUSE  AND  THE  WOEVRE   89 

scarp  of  the  Cotes  de  ]Meuse,  and  thus  reduce  them  to  their 
least  width  of  three  k.,  as  shown  in  the  lower  part  of  the  map, 
pp.  90,  91.  Just  here,  moreover,  two  small  west-flowing 
l)ranches  of  the  Mcuse  have  cut  their  valleys  almost  through 
the  narrowed  Cotes. 

Hence  it  was  here  that  the  German  forces  early  advanced 
westward  from  the  fortress  of  Metz  across  the  fifth  upland 
belt  and  the  Woevre  lowland,  and  reached  the  Meuse  in  a 
salient  between  the  fortresses  of  Toul  on  the  southeast 
and  of  \'erdun  on  the  north;  the  apex  of  the  salient  is  a  little 
north  of  the  narrowest  part  of  the  upland  segment  at  mid- 
length  of  the  Meuse  valley-chord,  and  is  marked  by  the  town 
of  St.  Mihiel:  there  on  a  west-reaching  spur  that  enters  the 
second  turn  of  an  S-like  pair  of  valley  curves,  a  French  strong- 
hold had  been  built  upon  the  site  of  an  ancient  Roman  camp, 
but  unfortunately  on  the  east  side  of  the  river;  the  Germans 
captured  the  stronghold  and  cut  the  railroad  in  the  valley 
beneath.  Thus  defended  on  three  sides  by  the  natural  val- 
ley-moat, they  have  held  possession  against  all  French  attacks. 
Their  object  was  plainly  enough  not  merely  the  occupation  of 
this  point,  of  relatively  small  value  in  itself,  but  the  isolation 
of  \'erdun,  farther  north  in  the  Meuse  valley,  of  which  more 
is  told  below. 

North  of  the  Rupt  de  Mad  bight,  the  segment  of  the  Cotes  de 
Meuse  (380  in.),  partly  forested,  partly  cleared,  is  higli  and  continu- 
ous in  the  .sen.se  of  not  being  cut  through  l)v  any  transverse  valley, 
l)Ut  it  is  carved  into  many  rounded  hills  separated  by  deep  ravines. 
'i"he  ea-st-faeing  scarp  <>(  the  segment  is  not  .so  sharp  crested  as  that 
of  the  fifth  upland  belt;  nevertheless,  it  is  a  striking  topographic 
feature.  The  view  eastward  from  its  promontories  inchides  th(> 
whole  breadth  (jf  the  \Vo('vre  with  patches  of  shining  ponds,  and  the 
long  western  slr^fK-  of  the  fifth  upland.  As  is  often  the  ca.se  elsewhere, 
so  here  the  level  of  emerging  springs  on  the  lower  slope  of  the  scarj) 


90 


THE  REGION  OF  THE  MEUSE 


Fia.  29.    The  Meandering  Valley  of  the  Meus] 


THE  MEUSE  AT  ST.  MIHIEL 


91 


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92  THE  REGION  OF  THE  MEUSE 

determines  the  site  of  a  series  of  ancient  villages  which  have  been 
there  from  time  immemorial;  the  villagers  are  in  large  measure  de- 
scended from  a  long  line  of  local  forefathers;  their  number  changes 
slowly.  Many  of  the  villages  have  sous-les-Cotes  appended  to  their 
name.  In  proud  contrast  to  the  humbler  position  of  these  lowly 
villages,  Hattonchatel  (-castle)  occupies  a  commanding  promontory 
of  the  segment  crest,  and  recalls  an  era  of  barons  lording  it  over 
peasants. 

The  main  western  body  of  the  upland  belt  hereabouts,  west 
of  the  Meuse,  is  still  a  broad  and  hilly  upland  (320  m.),  in 
spite  of  the  loss  of  its  higher  frontal  segment.  The  relief  is  so 
strong  on  both  sides  of  the  river  that  the  upland  villages  often 
have  names  ending  in  -niont,  as  Haumont,  Louvemont;  some 
of  those  in  the  ravines  have  names  ending  in  -court,  as  if  to 
indicate  their  narrow  enclosure  by  the  hills,  as  Chattancourt, 
Avocourt,  Landrecourt. 

The  meandering  habit  of  the  Meuse  valley  through  the  hills  results 
in  systematic  differences  of  length  in  the  several  lines  of  transporta- 
tion that  follow  it;  the  main  highway  makes  short  cuts  over  the 
valley-side  spurs,  and  is,  as  usual  in  such  valleys,  the  shortest  line; 
the  railway  along  one  side  of  the  flood  plain,  and  the  canal  often 
along  the  other  side,  follow  the  valley  curves;  the  river,  twisting 
about  on  the  flood  plain,  and  occasionally  even  turning  backward,is 
much  the  longest  line  of  the  four. 

Here  in  the  chord-valley  lies  Verdun  (204  m.),  the  fortified 
center  of  a  ring  of  fortified  hills.  The  railway  that  follows  the 
winding  valley  of  the  Meuse  is  here  crossed  by  an  east-west 
line  that  rises  and  falls  over  uplands  and  lowlands;  to  the 
west  it  leads  over  the  main  body  of  the  fourth  upland  and 
over  the  third  and  second  uplands  to  Rheims;  to  the  east,  it 
passes  over  the  detached  segment  of  the  fourth  upland, 
across  the  Woevre  lowland,  and  then  dividing,  runs  through 
the  fifth  upland  by  two  of  its  narrow  transverse  valleys. 


VERDUN  93 

Unfortunately  all  these  railway  lines  have  been  controlled  by 
the  Germans  since  shortly  after  the  beginning  of  the  war. 

Although  thus  cut  off  from  supplies  by  rail,  Verdun  has  suc- 
cessfully resisted  all  assaults.  Farther  down  stream,  the 
valley  and  the  hills  on  both  sides  of  it,  as  well  as  most  of  the 
Woevre  lowland  on  the  east,  were  early  occupied  by  the  Ger- 
mans; but  it  has  been  impossible  for  them  to  make  success- 
ful attack  upon  Verdun  from  the  lowland,  b}'  reason  of  the 
natural  defense  offered  by  the  strong  scarp  of  the  cuesta 
segment;  the  effort  of  the  Germans  to  ascend  a  ravine  in  the 
scarp  face,  known  by  the  name  of  the  village,  Vaud,  at* its 
mouth,  cost  them  the  sacrifice  of  thousands  of  lives.  It  is 
therefore  from  the  north,  where  hills  about  as  high  as  those 
crowned  by  the  forts  around  Verdun  are  occupied  by  the 
enemy,  that  the  strongest  attacks  have  been  made;  but  these 
attacks  have  been  impeded  by  the  deep  side- valleys  which 
divide  the  hills. 

Some  of  the  hills  have  become  notorious  in  the  course  of 
repeated  attacks  and  repulses:  Cote  dc  Froide  Terre  (345  m.) 
is  4  k.  north  of  Verdun;  Douaumont  (388  m.),  a  violently 
contested  point,  rises  9  k.  to  the  northeast;  Ic  Mort  Homme 
(295  m.)  is  12  k.  northwest  of  the  city;  near  by  on  the  west 
an  advancing  spur  of  the  subordinate  overlapping  upland  is 
known  from  its  height  as  "  Hill  304."  The  digging  of  trenches 
arul  the  blasting  of  "craters  "  by  innumerable  shells  has  in- 
flicted a  long-lasting  injury  on  the  fields  of  the  uplands,  not 
only  by  making  them  uneven,  but  even  more  b}'  mixing  the 
surface  soil  with  a  great  volume  of  unweathered  rock  frag- 
ments. The  surface;  can  be  graded  smooth  again  in  a  few 
years  of  peace,  but  it  will  recjuire  scores  of  years  to  restore  its 
lost  sf)ils. 


94 


THE  REGION  OF  THE  MEUSE 


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THE  MEUSE  AT  VERDUN 


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96  THE  REGION  OF  THE  MEUSE 

It  is  evidently  because  of  the  separation  of  Verdun  by  the  main 
body  of  the  fourth  cuesta  from  the  more  open  country  farther  west, 
that  it  has  played  so  individual  a  part  in  the  war.  It  withstood  the 
first  assault  of  the  Germans  in  August,  1914;  since  their  retreat 
from  the  Marne  in  September  of  that  year,  the  attacks  upon  Verdun, 
especially  the  long-continued  assaults  of  1916,  have  been  essentially 
independent  of  the  campaign  farther  west.  The  defense  of  the 
fortress  has  been  made  doubly  difficult  since  the  Germans  took 
St.  Mihiel,  as  noted  above,  and  thus  prevented  the  bringing  of  sup- 
plies by  rail  along  the  valley  floor  from  the  south.  To  overcome  this 
deprivation,  thousands  of  motor  trucks,  running  on  schedule  time, 
have  been  used  to  bring  munitions  over  the  upland  from  Bar-le- 
Duc  on  the  Ornain,  by  a  hilly  road  that  crosses  the  incised  valley  of 
the  upper  Aire  on  the  way.  The  dislodgment  of  the  Germans  from 
St.  Mihiel  and  the  reestablishment  of  railway  communication  along 
the  Meuse  valley  would  therefore  greatly  strengthen  Verdun. 

It  is  worth  noting  that  by  a  treaty  made  at  Verdun  in  the  year 
843  the  vast  empire  of  Charlemagne  was  divided  among  his  succes- 
sors; thus  for  the  first  time  did  the  region  which  we  know  as  Ger- 
many have  a  ruler  of  its  own;  the  beginning  of  German  national  life 
may  be  placed  at  this  date.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  frantic 
efforts  made  by  the  Germans  to  capture  Verdun  have  been  prompted 
by  pride  awakened  by  this  historical  reminiscence:  but  the  French 
have  said,  "  They  shall  not  pass." 

40.  The  Fourth  Upland  Belt:  Northernmost  Part.  About 
30  k.  beyond  Verdun  the  underfit  Meuse  leaves  its  winding 
valley  in  the  fourth  upland  belt  and  flows  out  upon  the  north- 
western extension  of  the  frontal  lowland,  leaving  the  upland 
intact  on  the  southwest.  The  lowland  is  here  less  than  10  k. 
in  width  and  no  longer  bears  the  name  of  Woevre.  Dun- 
sur-Meuse  lies  on  the  river  at  the  exit  from  the  upland,  and 
Stenay  is  beyond  the  lowland  some  12  k.  farther  on. 

The  upland  trends  northwest,  and  rapidly  losing  breadth 
is  cut  through  obliquely  by  the  Bar,  30  k.  northwest  of  the 
exit  of  the  Meuse  (see  diagram,  p.  81);  it  continues  about  as 


THE  UNDERFIT  BAR  97 

much  farther  (see  map,  p.  153),  narrowing  as  it  is  crowded 
between  the  converging  fifth  and  third  uplands  on  either  side, 
and  then  disappears  under  the  overlapping  chalk  upland,  as 
will  be  described  in  section  46.  The  ancient  village  of  Stonne 
stands  on  the  upland  summit  next  east  of  the  Bar  valley, 
where  the  Roman  road  from  Rheinis  to  Treves  holds  its 
undeviating  way  over  the  upland  belt. 

The  Bar  is  a  remarkable  example  of  an  underfit  stream;  its 
minutely  sinuous  course  is  about  twice  as  long  as  the  larger  curves 
of  its  serp)entine  valley.  Its  minute  sinuosity  is  doubtless  due  to 
diminution  of  volume,  for  which  two  reasons  may  be  given:  the 
Aire  once  continued  its  flow  northward  to  the  Bar  before  it  was 
captured  by  a  branch  of  the  Aisne,  as  is  further  stated  on  p.  100; 
then  the  l)eheaded  Bar,  no  longer  able  to  transport  all  the  detritus 
brought  from  the  adjoining  uplands  by  the  side  streams,  laid  down 
some  of  it  on  the  valley  floor,  which  was  thereby  built  uj)  or  aggraded 
by  a  considerable  thickness  of  alluvial  deposits;  and  a  further  loss  of 
surface  volume  was  caused  by  underflow  therein,  as  explained  in 
section  3S. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

ARGONNE  AND  CHAMPAGNE 

41.  The  Third  Upland  Belt:  its  Southern  Lowland  Substitute. 
The  third  upland  belt  is  peculiar  in  being  well  developed  only 
in  the  northern  part  of  its  arc ;  farther  south  the  determining 
strata  of  this  upland  are  thin  or  absent,  and  its  place  is  taken 
by  low  rambling  hills  (180  m.)  bearing  large  forests,  or  by 
a  lowland  (140  m.),  20  k.  in  width,  between  the  long  back 
slope  of  the  fourth  upland  belt  and  the  low  front  of  the  second, 
as  shown  in  Fig.  32.  The  main  branches  of  the  Seine  system 
cross  the  lowland  in  open  flood  plains.  Indeed,  in  the  space  be- 
tween the  Marne  and  the  northward  bow  of  its  chief  branch, 
the  Ornain,  several  smaller  streams,  gradually  converging 
westward,  aid  in  transforming  almost  all  that  part  of  the 
lowland,  over  a  north-south  stretch  of  20  k.,  into  contiguous 
plains,  on  which  the  streams  wander  with  little  restraint. 

The  larger  towns  and  cities  of  this  district  avoid  the  lowland  and 
occupy  the  main-stream  valleys  to  the  southeast  or  northwest.  Thus 
Bar-sur-Seine,  Bar-sur-Aube,  St.  Dizier  on  the  Marne,  and  Bar-le- 
Duc  on  the  Ornain  are  at  the  edge  of  or  within  the  back  slope  of  the 
fourth  upland  belt;  while  Troyes  on  the  Seine  and  Vitry-le-Frangois 
on  the  Marne,  regarding  both  of  which  more  is  said  below,  occupy 
reentrants  in  the  low  front  of  the  second  upland  belt.  Numerous 
roads  and  railways  traverse  the  lowland  in  various  directions;  the 
most  important  railway  is  the  main  Eastern  line,  which  crosses  from 
Vitry-le-Frangois  along  the  Ornain  to  Bar-le-Duc. 

42.  The  Forest  of  Argonne.  To  the  north  of  the  Ornain,  a 
number  of  large  ponds  are  held  among  the  lowland  hills,  as  is 

98 


THE  FOREST  OF  ARGONNE  99 

also  the  case  farther  south  between  the  Marne  and  the  Aube. 
The  hills  then  increase  in  height  and  soon  begin  to  assume  a 
cuesta-like  form;  it  is  not,  however,  until  20  k.  beyond  the 
Ornain  that  the  third  upland  belt,  maintained  by  beds  of  argil- 
laceous sandstone,  gains  a  well  developed  rehef  with  a  width 
of  15  k.  between  the  Aire  on  the  east  and  the  Aisne  on  the 
west,  both  of  which  flow  north-northwest  in  exceptionally  well 
directed  longitudinal  courses.  The  upland  begins  rather 
abruptly,  thus  presenting  a  descent  to  the  south;  thereafter 
it  has  normal  form,  with  a  fairly  strong  slope  falling  off  to  the 
east,  and  a  longer  slope  descending  to  the  west;  it  thus  con- 
tinues for  75  k.  to  the  north-northwest,  with  stony,  infertile 


Fig.  31.    Section  across  the  Forest  of  Argonne 

soil;  much  of  its  length  is  covered  by  the  great  forest  of 
Argonne.  The  district  of  Argonne  extends  eastward  and 
includes  part  of  the  back  slope  of  the  fourth  upland. 

A  characteristic  profile  across  the  southern  part  of  this 
forested  upland  may  be  begun  in  the  lowland  (240  m.)  on  the 
east.  Beneath  it,  the  Aire  has  incised  a  meandering  valley  of 
small  depth,  near  which  Clermont-en-Argonne  and  in  which 
Varenncs-en-Argonne  are  the  chief  towns;  the  upland  crest 
ri.ses  to  a  height  of  308  m.,  whence  a  long  westward  descent 
(200-170  m.)  loads  to  the  next  lowland  (150  m.),  before 
reaching  which,  however,  one  must  cross  the  longitudinal 
valley  of  the  Bicsme  which  splits  the  upland  for  some  20  k., 
and  the  meandering  valley  of  Ihe  Aisne  (140  m.);  the  latter 
is  an  underfit  river  in  a  meandering  valley  near  the  base  of 
the  slope.    Ste.  Menehould  is  the  chief  town  in  this  part  of 


100        ARGONNE  AND  CHAMPAGNE 

the  Aisne  valley.  A  transverse  railway,  coming  from  Rheims, 
passes  Ste.  Menehould,  crosses  the  split  upland  to  Clermont- 
en-Argonne,  and  then  traverses  the  main  mass  of  the  fifth 
upland  belt  to  Verdun. 

At  mid-length  of  the  forested  belt,  the  upland  is  cut 
square  across  by  the  valley  of  the  Aire,  which  there  leaves  the 
longitudinal  lowland  east  of  the  cuesta  and  turns  to  a  trans- 
verse course;  Grand  Pre  lies  close  to  the  elbow  where  the 
turn  is  made.  The  following  part  of  the  lowland  is  drained 
northward  by  the  Bar,  an  extremely  underfit  stream,  the  lower 
course  of  which  follows,  as  above  noted,  a  meandering  valley 
of  large  pattern  through  the  fourth  and  fifth  upland  belts. 

It  has  been  supposed  with  good  reason  that  the  underfit  Bar,  flow- 
ing in  a  relatively  high-level  valley  (160  m.),  represents  the  dimin- 
ished or  "  beheaded  "  lower  course  of  the  former  high-level  Aire 
(180-200  m.)  when  it  continued  northward  to  the  Meuse,  before  its 
diversion  to  the  Aisne  in  the  lower  western  lowland  (120  m.) ;  hence 
the  bend  of  the  Aire  at  Grand  Pre  may  be  regarded  as  an  elbow  of 
capture,  like  that  of  the  Moselle  at  Toul;  and  the  incision  of  the 
Aire  valley  (140  m.)  may  be  explained  as  a  consequence  of  the  trans- 
fer of  its  allegiance  from  the  higher  levels  of  the  Meuse  system  to  the 
lower  levels  of  the  Aisne-Oise-Seine  system;  but  the  valley  of  the 
little  Aire  at  the  Grand-Pr6  elbow  of  capture  is  much  wider  than  that 
of  the  larger  Moselle  at  Toul;  hence  the  capture  of  the  Aire  by  a 
branch  of  the  Aisne  should  be  regarded  as  more  ancient  than  that  of 
the  upper  Moselle  by  a  branch  of  the  aboriginal  Meurthe. 

It  is  worth  noting  that  the  Aisne  below  the  point  where  the  Aire 
has  been  added  to  its  volume,  and  where  it  therefore  might  expect- 
ably  show  the  vigorous  habit  of  an  "  overfit  "  river,  more  competent 
than  ever  to  flow  vigorously  around  its  valle}'-  curves,  is  nevertheless 
strikingly  underfit;  hence  loss  of  volume  by  percolation  in  flood- 
plain  alluvium,  as  above  suggested,  is  a  plausible  explanation  of  its 
now  enfeebled  behavior. 

Vouzier  (100  m.)  lies  in  the  Aisne  valley  below  the  confluence  of 
the  Aire.    Not  far  beyond  that  town  and  23  k.  below  the  confluence 


DIVERSION  OF  THE  AIRE  TO  THE  AISNE       101 

of  the  Aire,  the  Aisne  turns  westward;  its  further  course  will  be 
described  in  a  later  section.  Opposite  this  turn,  the  third  upland 
belt,  here  trending  northwest,  is  almost  cut  through  by  a  small 
branch  streflm,  the  cross  valley  of  which  is  ascended  bj'  a  canal  which 
connects  the  Seine-Oise-Aisne  river  system  with  that  of  the  Meuse; 
the  canal  makes  a  short-cut  path  through  a  spur-stem  of  the  Bar 
valley  near  its  junction  with  the  Meuse.  A  modern  lane  follows  the 
ancient  Roman  road,  above  described  as  connecting  Rheims  and 
Treves,  over  the  hills  of  the  third  upland  belt  (240  m.)  next  south  of 
the  cross  valley  just  mentioned.  Beyond  the  cross  valley,  the  lowland 
in  front  of  the  upland  narrows  and  disappears,  presumably  because 
its  determining  weak  strata  give  out;  the  third  upland  thereupon 
almost  merges  with  the  fourth,  as  already  stated. 

43.  The  Second  Upland  Belt,  Southern  Part:  The  Forest  of 
Othe.  The  second  upland  belt,  formed  of  chalk  strata,  is  a 
low  and  much  scalloped  bench  (190  m.)  rising  gently  with 
gracefully  curved  profile  from  the  northwestern  side  of  the 
broad  lowland  (140  m.)  that  south  of  the  Marne  replaces  the 
third  upland  belt;  but  southwest  of  the  Seine  the  bench  is 
dwarfed  b\'  a  higher  upland  of  cuesta  form  (280  m.),  covered 
l)y  the  forest  of  Othe,  which  rises  with  a  strong  frontal  slope, 
deeply  scored  by  steep  ravines,  a  few  kilometers  further  north- 
west. This  high  upland  is  maintained  by  a  body  of  sandstone 
strata,  which  singularly  enough  tlo  not  extend  northeast  of  the 
Seine,  and  which  lose  topographic  value  southwestward  of  the 
Yonne;  but  between  these  limiting  rivers  the  upland  that 
they  form  is  a  dominating  feature. 

44.  The  Second  Upland  Hdi  and  the  Uhampagnc.  North  of 
the  Forest  of  Othe  the  second  or  chalk  upland,  as  it  may  be 
called,  although  of  well  defined  form,  is  so  low  that  it  does 
iKjt  strongly  separate  the  l>roa(l  lowlands  on  its  two  sities.  A 
large  part  of  this  extensive  region  of  small  relief,  including 
most  of  the  broad  lowland  where  the  third  upland  is  wanting, 


102 


ARGONNE  AND  CHAMPAGNE 

Charleville 


Wo  ;;;'■■: '<6i:'Ml||^'6!WltEs,.„ — 

Mezieres/ ^         ^"  '  M  I  ("f" 

Sedan    1 1 1 1 


Fig.  32.    The  First,  Second,  and  Third  Upland  Belts 


THE  CHAMPAGNE  103 

the  low  second  upland,  which  bears  many  small  patches  of 
woodland,  as  far  as  the  Aisne,  and  a  long  stretch  of  the  follow- 
ing lowland  of  sandy  and  clayey  strata  which  fronts  the  strong 
scarp  of  the  first  upland  belt,  is  known  as  la  Champagne,  or 
"  the  open  country." 

Of  this  area,  the  broad  eastern  lowland  as  far  north  as  the 
Forest  of  Argonne  (third  upland  belt),  and  the  narrower 
northward  extension  of  this  lowland  between  the  Forest  of 
Argonne  and  the  chalk  upland,  are  characterized  by  many 
streams,  and  by  moist,  deep-soiled  fields  and  numerous 
villages;  these  parts  are  therefore  united  under  the  name  la 
Champagne  humide,  or  the  moist  Champagne.  The  western 
part,  including  the  low  chalk  upland  and  the  following  low- 
land of  few  streams  and  dry  soils,  where  villages  and  culti- 
vated fields  are  limited^  to  the  wide-spaced  valleys,  has 
received  the  unflattering  name  of  la  Champagne  pouilleuse, 
which  may  be  called  the  dry  Champagne:  it  is  this  drier 
western  area  that  is  now  to  be  especially  considered;  and  to 
it,  rather  than  to  the  moister  eastern  area,  the  name  Cham- 
pagne usually  applies. 

The  southwest€rnmost  extension  of  the  dry  Champagne  lies  in  the 
lowland  between  the  long  back  slope  of  the  Forest  of  Othe  and  the 
strong  scarp  of  the  first  upland  belt,  where  the  Seine,  ha^^ng  re- 
ceived the  Aube,  flows  GO  k.  wost-southwest  and  receives  the  Yonne 
Ix-ff^re  resuming  its  northwest  course  and  passing  through  the  first 
upland  to  Paris.  PVom  this  beginning  the  belt  of  low  or  moderate 
relief,  \\adening  by  the  addition  of  the  low  chalk  upland  belt  north  of 
the  Seine,  sweeps  around  an  arc  of  more  than  90°  and  over  a  distance 
of  2.j0  k.,  from  the  Yonne  on  a  southeastern  radius  of  the  Paris  basin 
to  beyond  the  Aisne,  which  limits  the  Champagne  district,  and  as 
far  a-s  the  Oise  on  a  north-northeastern  radius;  the  undulating  low- 
lanfl  surface  eontiiiues  west  of  the  Oise  into  northernmost  France,  as 
will  he  deseribed  in  section  52.  This  licit  of  open  counlr}',  inchid- 
ing  the  low  chalk  upland  on  the  east  along  with  the  lower  lowland  of 


104  ARGONNE  AND  CHAMPAGNE 

sands  and  clays  to  which  the  chalk  upland  gently  declines  on  the  west, 
is  much  more  extensive  than  any  other  physiographic  area  of  north- 
eastern France.  For  convenience  of  description  it  may  be  divided 
into  sectors  by  the  transverse  rivers;  the  sector  beyond  the  Oise  will 
be  treated  on  later  pages. 

45.  The  Dry  Champagne  from  the  Seine  to  the  Aisne.  The 
Seine  flows  through  the  second  or  chalk  upland  belt  next 
north  of  the  Forest  of  Othe  in  a  broad  and  squarely  transverse 
valley,  on  the  floor  of  which  lies  Troyes  (55,486),  the  largest 
city  between  Paris  and  Dijon.  It  is  from  the  extensive  deal- 
ings in  the  ancient  fairs  of  this  commercial  city  that  English- 
speaking  people  have  acquired  the  so-called  Troy  weight,  in 
which  12  ounces  make  a  pound.  Beyond  the  open  breach  of 
the  Seine,  the  chalk  upland  continues  its  generally  treeless 
surface  for  160  k.;  yet  low  as  it. is  only  three  rivers,  the 
Aube,  the  Marne,  and  the  Aisne,  traverse  it  in  all  this  distance. 
At  the  entrance  to  the  obliquely  transverse  valley  of  the 
Marne  lies  Vitry-le-Frangois,  one  of  the  most  southern  points 
reached  by  the  German  army  in  its  first  advance.  The  low- 
land of  the  moist  Champagne  (140-150  m.)  to  the  east  of  the 
chalk  upland,  unusually  broad  through  the  long  100  k. 
stretch  where  the  third  upland  belt  is  wanting,  is  much  nar- 
rowed, as  above  noted,  after  the  rise  of  that  upland  in  the 
Forest  of  Argonne  farther  north;  the  narrowed  part  of  the 
lowland  is,  singularly  enough,  not  followed  by  a  longitudinal 
stream,  for  it  is  in  the  back  slope  of  the  third  upland  adjoining 
on  the  east  that  the  underfit  Aisne  pursues  the  incised  mean- 
dering valley  described  in  section  42. 

The  frontal  scarp  of  the  chalk  upland  is  elaborately  carved 
by  the  close-set  ravines  of  many  short,  east-flowing  streams, 
the  branches  of  which  head  two  or  three  k.  back  in  the  upland; 
its  generally  treeless  spurs  are  unlike  those  of  any  other  up- 


THE  SCARP  OF  THE  CHALK  UPLAND 


105 


land  belt  in  the  series  from  the  Vosges  to  Paris.  Villages  lie  in 
the  ravine  mouths  or  beneath  the  spur  ends,  where  a  water 
supply  is  obtainable;  but  they  are  more  abundant  on  the 
better  watered  and  well  cultivated  lowland  farther  east,  in  its 


Fig.  33.    The  Ragged  Scarp  of  the  Low  Chalk  Upland 

narrowed  northern  extension  parallel  to  the  Aisne,  as  well  as 
farther  south  where  it  is  broad.  The  chalk  strata  that  consti- 
tute the  second  ujjland  belt  (200  m.)  are  so  i)ervious  to  water 
that  the  thin  soil  over  the  flat  upland  crest  is  unusually  dry; 
hence  villages  here  are  few  and  far  between:  even  the  valley 
heads  of  the  back  slope  arc  waterless.  Not  until  the  slope 
declines  some  40  or  oO  m.,  on  the  western  side  of  the  faintly 


106        ARGONNE  AND  CHAMPAGNE 

convex  upland  crest,  do  the  shallow  valleys  bear  streams; 
and  not  until  after  the  streams  begm  are  villages  found  also. 
The  roads  of  the  upland  are  surfaced  with  flints.  Thus  to  the 
easily  recognized  flint-bearing  chalk  of  its  maintaining  strata 
and  to  its  well  individualized  though  low  relief,  the  second 
upland  belt  adds  the  characteristic  of  a  thin-soiled,  dry, 
almost  uninhabited  upland,  the  driest  part  of  la  Cham- 
pagne pouilleuse,  between  the  moist  and  fertile  lowland  on  the 
east  and  the  broader  but  less  fertile  lowland,  partly  occupied 
by  pine  forests,  on  the  west. 

North  of  the  Aube,  which  curves  to  the  west  to  join  the 
Seine,  the  broad  and  gently  undulating  surface  of  the  dry 
Champagne  continues  with  a  width  of  40  or  50  k.  for  some  60 
or  70  k.  before  it  is  obliquely  crossed  by  the  shallow  valley  of 
the  Marne,  from  the  marshy  flood  plain  of  which  much  peat 
has  been  dug  out.  Chalons-sur-Marne,  an  important  military 
station,  lies  on  the  right  side  of  the  valley,  where  the  eastward 
rise  from  the  lowland  to  the  back  slope  of  the  second  upland 
belt  may  be  said  to  begin.  Epernay  lies  on  the  left  side  of  the 
Marne  in  a  reentrant  opened  by  that  river  in  the  front  of  the 
first  upland  belt.  Through  this  part  of  the  Champagne  in 
particular,  the  faintness  of  the  relief  is  shown  by  the  long 
distances  over  which  highways  and  railways  run  in  straight 
courses. 

Then  follows  a  northward  stretch  of  some  60  k.  where,  between  the 
Marne  and  the  Aisne,  several  small  streams  rise  in  shallow  valleys 
among  the  woodland  patches  on  the  gentle  back  slope  of  the  chalk 
upland  and  cross  the  lowland  northwestward  to  the  Aisne.  Here  the 
battle  front  has  lain  for  three  years,  trending  from  the  southern  part 
of  the  Forest  of  Argonne  west-northwest  to  the  Aisne  where  it  enters 
the  first  upland  belt.  The  district  has  been  the  scene  of  severe  fight- 
ing, with  moderate  northward  gains  for  the  French.    The  shallow 


THE  HILLS  EAST  OF  RHEIMS  107 

vallej-s  of  the  Vesle  and  the  Suippe  in  the  roUing  surface  are  of  less 
strategic  value  than  several  residual  hills  in  the  center  of  the  area 
between  these  streams,  on  which  the  Germans  entrenched  their 
forces  after  retreating  from  the  Marne.  The  hills  are  composed  of 
strata  overlying  the  chalk;  the  highest  of  them  (267  m.),  eight  k. 
east  of  Rheims,  may  be  named  from  the  ^^llage  of  Berru  on  its 
eastern  slope.  Twelve  k.  farther  on  otlicr  hills  (257  m.)  rise  west  of 
the  \-illage  of  Moronvilliers.  Their  possession  has  been  desperately 
contested.  Tunnels  driven  through  the  hills  gave  the  Germans  pro- 
tection in  passing  from  their  camps  on  the  sheltered  northern  slope 
to  the  trenches  on  tlie  exposed  southern  slope.  When  the  hills  were 
captured  in  the  spring  of  1917  by  the  French,  after  heav}-  artillery 
firing  by  which  the  tunnel  mouths  were  broken  down  and  obstructed, 
hundreds  of  German  soldiers  were  found  suffocated  in  the  tunnels. 
The  location  of  the  hills  is  shown  in  the  diagram  on  pages  112,  113. 
In  the  western  part  of  this  division  of  the  Champagne  north  of  the 
Marne  and  beyond  a  strong  eastward  salient  of  the  first  upland  belt, 
lies  the  famous  cathedral  city  of  Rheims  (French,  Reims;  the  final  s 
is  pronounced)  on  the  the  Vesle,  a  small  branch  of  the  Aisne.  Since 
the  retreat  from  the  JMarne,  the  German  line  has  been  held  not  far 
northeast  of  the  city,  which  has  thus  been  exposed  to  intermittent 
bombardment  for  over  three  years.  The  ancient  origin  of  this  city  is 
attested  by  the  number  of  Roman  roads  that  radiate  from  it:  one  of 
them,  already  mentioned  as  leading  to  Treves,  crosses  the  plain 
northeastward  in  a  remarkablj'  direct  course. 

46.  The  Lowlands  from  the  Aisne  to  the  Oise.  The  Aisne, 
turning  west  from  its  longitudinal  course  in  the  back  slope  of 
ihe  third  upland  belt,  crosses  the  next  narrow  lowland,  the  low 
ciialk  upland  -  Kethel  lies  here  in  the  transverse  valley  — 
and  the  lowland  plain  beyond,  and  then  enters  the  plateau 
wliieh  constitutes  the  northern  extension  of  the  first  up- 
land, as  will  be  explained  below.  In  its  course  west  of  the 
(•halk-U[)land  crest,  the  river  flows  in  a  very  sinuous  charniel 
through  a  wide  and  often  marshy  flood  plain.  To  the  north  of 


108  ARGONN]^  AND  CHAMPAGNE 

the  Aisne  (see  maps,  pp.  102  and  153)  the  remaining  portion  of 
the  undulating  southwestward  slope  from  the  second  or  chalk 
upland  to  the  adjoining  lowland  forms  the  northernmost  sec- 
tor of  the  broad  belt  of  small  relief  that  began  at  the  Seine. 
The  belt  here  extends  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Champagne 
district  and  reaches  the  Oise.  The  drainage  of  the  area  is 
accomplished  by  the  west-flowing  Souche,  Hurtaut,  Brune, 
and  Villepion,  all  small  streams  that  unite  in  the  Serre  and 
thus  reach  the  Oise,  which  in  this  upper  part  of  its  course  has, 
like  the  Aisne  above  mentioned,  a  winding  channel  in  a 
marshy  flood  plain. 

The  southwestern  and  lower  part  of  this  northernmost  sector,  near 
the  group  of  plateau  segments  that  here  represent  the  first  upland 
belt,  the  smallest  and  northernmost  member  of  which  is  crowned  by 
Laon,  is  so  low  and  flat  that  it  is  drained  by  artificial  canals.  The 
northeastern  part  of  the  sector,  rising  gradually  with  the  northward 
ascent  of  the  chalk  formation,  has  deeper  valleys  and  therefore  a 
stronger  relief  than  the  corresponding  area  in  the  Champagne;  its 
many  broadly  rounded  upland  hills  rise  among  a  labyrinth  of  val- 
leys, with  neither  height  nor  depth  enough  to  make  movement  diffi- 
cult in  time  of  peace,  yet  with  such  variety  of  form  as  to  give  in- war 
much  advantage  to  well  chosen  lines  of  defence  and  to  impose  cor- 
responding disadvantage  on  the  lines  of  attack. 

The  northward  extension  of  the  undulating  uplands  is  peculiar. 
For  a  short  distance  north  of  the  Aisne,  they  fall  off  eastward,  as 
heretofore,  in  a  scarp  of  moderate  height  which  descends  to  the  nar- 
row lowland  already  described,  and  beyond  the  lowland  a  moderate 
ascent  leads  up  the  back  slope  of  the  weakening  third  upland;  but 
farther  north  the  scarp  disappears  and  the  chalk  upland  successively 
overlaps  the  lowered  ends  of  the  third,  the  fourth,  and  the  fifth 
upland  belts  (see  map,  p.  153),  and  farther  west  it  wraps  around  the 
westward  slope  of  the  Ardennes  into  Belgium.  Thus  the  strong 
rampart-like  scarps  of  the  several  upland  belts,  which  farther  south- 
east faced  the  Lorraine  plateau,  fade  away  in  this  northern  district; 
hence  here,  after  the  repulse  of  the  allied  forces  in  northern  France 


LOWL.\NDS  FROM  THE  AISXE  TO  THE  OISE    109 

in  August,  1914,  the  German  army,  hurrying  through  the  Ardennes 
highlands  by  the  gorge  of  the  Meuse  and  passing  around  the  low 
western  descent  of  the  highlands  by  Charleroi  and  Mons  in  Belgium, 
had  a  wide  district  of  moderate  relief  before  them,  across  which  they 
advanced  rapidly  far  southward  into  the  Champagne,  and  for  a  less 
distance  over  the  high  ground  of  the  first  upland  belt,  to  which  we 
now  turn. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  FIRST  UPLAND  BELT 

47.  The  Scarp  of  the  Upland  facing  the  Champagne  Lowland. 
The  member  of  the  series  of  upland  belts  nearest  Paris  is  main- 
tained by  beds  of  impure  limestone  overlying  the  weaker 
sands  and  clays,  which  are  worn  down  in  the  lowland  of  the 
Champagne  on  the  east.  Through  the  middle  of  its  arc  the 
upland  has  a  strongly  developed  east-facing  scarp,  150  m.  or 
more  in  height,  a  rather  broad  upland  (240-280  m.),  and  a 
long  westward  slope  toward  Paris.  Its  beginning  may  be 
said  to  be  in  the  uplands  of  the  Forest  of  Fontainebleau,  not 
far  southwest  of  the  transverse  valley  of  the  Seine.  The  up- 
land gains  stronger  relief  to  the  northeast  of  this  valley,  where 
it  is  known  as  la  Brie,  as  far  as  the  deeper  and  more  mean- 
dering valley  of  the  Marne,  in  the  open  entrance  to  which 
lies  Epernay,  with  Chateau-Thierry  in  its  narrowed  middle 
part,  and  Meaux  near  its  exit  to  the  lower  ground  near  Paris. 
The  main  line  of  the  Eastern  railway  follows  this  valley.  The 
lowland  on  the  west  has  been  described  in  chapter  III. 

The  upland  of  la  Brie  is  cut  through  about  two-thirds  of  the 
way  from  the  Seine  to  the  Marne  by  the  Petit  Morin,  the 
source  of  which  lies  in  an  extensive  marsh,  le  Marais  de 
St.  Gond,  on  the  lowland  next  east  of  the  upland  scarp. 
Several  streams,  of  which  the  largest  is  the  Grand  Morin,  a 
short  distance  south  of  its  more  deeply  incised  little  brother, 
rise  on  the  upland  and  cut  valleys  in  its  back  slope.  Beneath 
a  notch  in  the  scarp  at  the  head  of  the  Grand  Morin  lies 

no 


ESCARPMENT  WEST  OF  THE  CHAIMPAGNE      111 

Sezanne  on  the  adjoining  lowland;  a  secondary  line  of  the 
Eai^tern  railway  ascends  the  Grand  ]\Iorin  vallej'  and  passes 
through  the  notch  to  the  lowland.  It  was  on  the  slanting 
upland  just  north  of  the  Petit  ]\Iorin  valley,  that  Napoleon, 
shortly  before  his  exile  to  Elba  in  1814,  defeated  the  Prussians 
in  three  battles  at  Montmerail,  Champaubert,  and  Eloges  on 
three  successive  days. 

The  escarpment  of  the  Brie  upland  is  known  as  the  Falaise  (sea 
clifiF)  dc  rile  de  France  (lie  de  France  being  the  name  of  an  ancient 
province,  centering  in  Paris),  thus  recalling  the  obsolete  view  that 
cliffs  of  this  kind  were,  like  the  cliffs  of  Normand}-,  the  work  of  sea 
waves,  as  was  thought  before  an  understanding  was  reached  of  their 
origin  by  the  differential  weathering  of  strong  and  weak  strata.  The 
fact  is  simply  that  the  underlying  weak  strata,  worn  down  on  the  east 
to  lowland  forms,  slowh-  sap  and  force  back  the  scarp  of  the  harder 
overlying  strata ;  while  the  overlying  strata,  resisting  with  all  their 
strength  the  enforced  retreat,  stand  forth  in  scarped  promontories 
and  spurs.  AH  the  sunHt  slopes  of  the  scarp  and  the  northern  side 
of  the  Marne  vallej'  are  occupied  bV  vineyards  from  which  the 
famous  tin  de  Champagne  is  produced;  it  is  stored  in  great  cellars 
excavated  in  the  weaker  sandy  strata  near  the  scarp  base. 

The  fine.st  promontory  of  the  upland  scarp  is  the  already 
mentioned  strong  salient,  the  Moiilagne  de  Reims,  next  north 
of  the  Marne;  its  eastward-rising  extremity  (280  m.)  is 
naturally  the  highest  point  in  the  whole  length  of  the  scarp; 
its  forested  back  slope  is  drained  northwestward  b}'  a  little 
stream,  the  Ardre,  to  the  \'esle,  a  tributarj'  of  the  Aisne.  The 
promont(M-y  is  tunneled  by  the  railwa}'  from  Epernay  to 
liiicims. 

The  .segment  of  the  upland  front,  almost  detached  by  the 
valley  of  the  Ardre,  has  an  irregular  margin,  thus  fore- 
shadowing the  still  more  irregular  margins  of  the  segments 
north  of  the  Vesle  and  the  Aisne. 


112 


ARGONNE  AND  CHAMPAGNE 


Fig.  34.    The  Courses  of  the  Marne  and  the  Aisne  across 


Explanation   of  abbreviations:   A,  Ch&lons-sur-Marne;   B,  Bar-le-Duc;    C,  Com- 
pidgne;  E,  Epcrnay;  F,  La  F6re;  H,  Chateau-Thierry;  L,  Laon;  M,  Ste.  Menehould; 


UPL-\XD  BELTS  ADJOINING  CHAMPAGNE       113 


THE  Champagne  and  thkolgh  the  Uplandh  NouTitEAST  oi-  Pauis 

S.  Noyon;  O.  F*re  Champc'iioisf ;  It.  Rhpima;  8,  SoiiJBoiiB;  T,  Kcthcl;    V.  Verdun; 
X,  Meaux;  Y,  Vitry-le-Francoi«;  Z,  S6ianne. 


114  THE  FIRST  UPLAND  BELT 

Not  far  north  of  the  Marne  valley  the  back  slope  of  the 
upland  changes  from  a  western  to  a  southern  slant;  here  it  is 
drained  by  the  Ourcq,  which  joins  the  Marne  above  Meaux. 
Farther  west,  the  upland,  known  as  Valois  and  already  de- 
scribed in  section  17,  is  limited  by  the  valley  of  the  Oise,  as 
will  be  further  told  in  section  52. 

48.  The  Battle  of  the  Marne.  When  the  German  army  made 
its  great  advance  from  the  north  of  France  in  August,  1914,  the 
farthest  progress  was  over  the  uplands  of  Valois  and  Brie, 
where  the  front  finally  stretched  from  Meaux  on  the  Marne 
southeastward  along  the  southern  side  of  the  Grand  Morin 
valley,  and  across  the  open  lowland  of  the  Champagne  on  the 
line  from  Fere  Champenoise  to  Vitry-le-Frangois.  Three 
valleys  in  the  upland — those  of  the  Marne,  the  Petit  Morin, 
and  the  Grand  Morin  —  which  had  impeded  the  southward 
progress  of  the  Germans,  now  hampered  the  bringing  of  sup- 
plies from  their  rear,  and  might  become  dangerous  obstacles  in 
a  forced  retreat. 

It  was  when  this  condition  was  reached  that  the  French 
under  Joffre  made  their  famous  stand  in  the  Battle  of  the 
Marne  and  began  to  press  the  Germans  back.  But  in  the 
forced  retirement  which  followed,  the  same  upland  valleys 
that  had  impeded  the  advance  of  the  Germans  delayed  the 
advance  of  the  pursuers;  and  the  attempt  made  by  French 
forces,  advancing  from  Paris,  to  push  eastward  north  of  the 
Marne  and  fall  upon  the  German  flank  was  delayed  at 
the  valley  of  the  Ourcq.  The  retreat  over  the  uplands  left 
the  invaders  in  an  untenable  position  on  the  Champagne,  and 
a  concentrated  attack  by  the  French  beyond  the  impassable 
marsh  of  St.  Gond,  which  served  as  a  natural  barrier  for  a 
moderate  distance  forward  from  the  upland  scarp,  compelled 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  MARNE  115 

the  Gemian  army  on  tho  plain  to  withdraw  from  its  hazardous 
isolation. 

The  northern  side  of  the  Marne  valley  would  have  been  a 
favorable  line  for  the  Germans  to  hold,  had  there  been  time 
to  assemble  their  forces  upon  it,  but  the  pursuit  was  so 
ardent  that  this  proved  impossible;  and  moreover  the  right 
flank  was  there  exposed  to  attack  on  the  uplands  of  Valois. 
The  retreat  was  therefore  not  arrested  until  the  valley  of  the 
Aisne,  in  the  uplands  farther  north,  and  the  hills  on  the  Cham- 
pagne east  of  Rheims  were  reached.  The  positions  there 
taken  were  well  chosen,  if  one  may  judge  by  the  long  subse- 
quent period  during  which  they  were  held  with  small  change. 

49.  The  Tablelands  north  of  the  Aisne.  The  northern  part  of 
the  first  upland  belt  is  cut  through  by  the  east-west  valley  of 
the  Aisne,  midway  in  which  Soissons  is  situated.  The  cuesta- 
likc  upland  here  undergoes  the  change  of  form  that  such  fea- 
tures suffer,  as  illustrated  on  page  48,  when  the  dip  of  the 
determining  strata  decreases  and  Ijecomes  almost  horizontal. 
The  upland  belt  or  cuesta,  with  a  scarp  on  one  side  and  a  long 
slope  on  the  other,  thus  becomes  a  plateau,  with  a  flat  upland 
surface  and  .scarps  on  all  sides,  as  shown  in  the  bird's-eye 
diagram,  pp.  116,  117.  The  change  is  foreshadowed  in  the 
plateau-like  segment  (200  m.,  see  Fig.  34)  of  the  gently  slant- 
ing upland  included,  with  scarped  and  indented  margins  on  all 
sides,  between  the  Vesle  and  the  Aisne,  northwest  of  Rheims; 
and  also  farther  west,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Aisne  valley  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Soissons,  where  the  uplan<l  margin 
(140  III.)  has  lost  the  fomparatively  direct  course  Ihat  char- 
acterizes well-defined  upland  belts,  and  become  irregularly 
iobate,  after  the  fashion  of  dissected  plateaus.  North  of  the 
Aisne  valley  the  transformation  is  comi)lete;   here  instead  of 


116 


THE  FIRST  UPLAND  BELT 


presenting  a  frontal  scarp,  an  upland,  and  a  back  slope,  the 
continuation  of  the  first  upland  is  now  seen  in  several  sep- 
arate plateau  segments  varying  little  in  altitude  (140-180  m.), 


'y  :3^2=  Laon- 


Fig.  35.     Diagram  op  the  Valley  op  the 

with  strongly  indented  margins  that  fall  off  on  all  sides  in 
steep  scarps  and  long  lower  slopes. 

The  first  of  these  segments  stands  between  the  nearly 
parallel  valleys  of  the  Aisne  and  the  Ailette,  a  small  branch 
of  the  Oise;  it  measures  60  k.  in  length  east  and  west,  and 
near  its  western  end  is  about  12  k.  in  width;  it  narrows  east- 


UPL.\ND  SEGMENTS  NORTH  OF  THE  AISNE     117 

ward  and  Craonne  lies  on  the  slope  below  its  slender  ex- 
tremity. A  canal  passes  under  a  narrowed  part  of  the  plateau 
b}-  a  tunnel  excavated  in  the  weak  strata  underlying  the  lime- 


AlsNK,    THE   ChEMIN   DE8    DaMKS,    AND    LaON 

stone  beds  that  form  the  upland,  and  thus  connects  the  Aisne 
and  the  upper  Oise.  The  Oise  flows  south  beyond  the  broader 
western  end  of  the  plateau  segment;  Compiegne  lies  on  the 
east  side  of  this  river  near  the  confluence  of  the  Aisne.  The 
margin  of  tlu;  long  i)lateau  segm(;nt  or  tableland  is  frayed  out, 
(SfM'cially  f)ii   llif  soutticni   side,   in   many   spine  like  spurs 


118 


THE  FIRST  UPLAND  BELT 


FiQ.  36.     The  Valley  of  the  Aisne,  and  thi 


THE  CHEMIN  DES  DAMES 


119 


.Moii.imptciiil . 


vo'uV'^'w .; 


I  oiu'tecon  - 


^7\ 


:'M»iJf. 


-**- 


?i^  /» 


J 


IILAL"    .StOMKNT  lltAlUNO    Tllh    CllJ-Ml.N    UtS    Jjy^Ml.S 


120  THE  FIRST  UPLAND  BELT 

between  as  many  encroaching,  roundheaded  reentrants.  A 
road  running  northward  from  Soissons  to  Laon  crosses  over 
the  narrowed  middle  of  the  plateau  segment  between  two 
reentrants;  a  branch  road  runs  along  the  level  upland  in  the 
eastern  half  of  the  segment,  avoiding  the  reentrants  on  either 
side:  this  is  the  famous  Chemin  des  Dames,  shown  in  Fig.  35 
and  in  more  detail  in  Fig.  36.  It  was  in  this  district  that 
Napoleon  was  at  last  overcome  in  1814,  shortly  after  his  three 
victories  on  the  upland  over  the  Petit  Morin;  the  downfall 
of  the  First  Empire  and  his  exile  to  Elba  followed. 

North  of  the  Ailette  valley,  the  breadth  of  which  is  much 
greater  than  might  be  expected  for  so  small  a  stream,  two 
smaller  plateau  segments  or  little  tablelands  are  separated  by 
an  open  depression;  they  have  elaborately  frayed-out  mar- 
gins; the  western  and  larger  one  (220  m.)  is  mostly  covered  by 
the  forests  of  St.  Gobain  and  Coucy  (Fig.  34).  Next  north  of 
the  depression  between  the  two  isolated  segments  is  a  small 
outlying  hill,  crowned  with  the  walled  city  of  Laon.  Two 
more  small  detachments  of  the  upland  rise  west  of  the  Oise; 
Noyon  lies  between  them.  North  of  Laon,  the  extension  of 
the  northernmost  sector  of  the  broad  Champagne  belt 
stretches  westward  beyond  the  Oise,  as  will  be  further  de- 
scribed in  section  52. 

In  this  district,  much  more  easily  than  farther  south  where  the 
first  upland  belt  is  developed  as  a  cuesta,  one  may  recognize  that  the 
controlling  strata,  now  divided  into  detached  plateau  segments,  were 
originally  continuous  and  that  the  strata  then  extended  with  slowly 
increasing  altitude  far  eastward  and  northward  over  the  adjoining 
lowland;  one  may,  indeed,  if  he  pause  here  long  enough  to  consider 
the  relation  of  the  brief  present  and  the  long  past,  come  to  understand 
that  the  removal  of  the  extended  strata  and  the  disseverment  of 
their  remaining  plateau  segments  was  accomplished,  not  by  any  con- 
vulsion of  nature,  nor  yet  by  the  hurried  processes  of  overwhehning 


UPLAND  BELTS  AND  TABLELANDS 


121 


floods,  but  by  the  quiet  perseverance  of  the  slow  processes  of  weather- 
ing and  washing,  working  unendingly  just  as  the}'  are  working  today: 
they  include  the  incision  of  valleys  by  streams,  the  gradual  disinte- 
gration of  the  plateau-making  strata  exposed  on  the  valW  sides,  the 
unceasing  but  very  deliberate  creep  and  the  occasional  more  rapid 
wash  of  the  disintegrated  detritus  down  hill  to  the  streams,  and  its 
intermittent  transportation  along  their  channels  to  the  sea. 

The  inevitable  result  of  these  processes  is  the  slow  reduction  of  the 
plat^^au  segments  to  less  and  less  area,  and  the  corresponding  in- 
crease in  the  breadth  of  the  intervening  vallej's.  South  of  Soissons 
the  valleys  are  comparativeh'  narrow,  and  the  plateau  areas  are 
large;  the  valleys  of  the  Aisne  and  the  Ailette  are  more  broadly 
opened,  and  the  plateau  segments  are  small  and  isolated  tablelands; 


Fig.  37.     Wasting  Tablelands  reduced  to  Lowlands 

farther  north,  the  valleys  become  wide  lowlands,  and  the  tablelands 
are  reduced  to  still  smaller  dimensions,  like  the  hill  on  which  Laon 
stands;  farther  north  still,  where  the  plateau-making  strata  rose 
gradually  to  greater  altitudes  and  were  therefore  more  exposed  to 
degradation  by  the  sapping  of  the  weak  underlying  strata,  no 
taltlf'lands  now  remain  and  the  lowland  is  continuous. 

')().  Cordradx  of  Upland  Belts  and  T'ahlclands.  A  difference  between 
ujjlaiid  belts  or  cuestas  of  gently  inclined  strata  and  jjlateau  seg- 
ments of  horizontal  strata,  of  importance  with  respect  to  the  excava- 
tion of  trenches  in  a  "  war  of  j)ositions,"  is  seen  in  the  unsymmetrical 
cros.s-section  of  cuestas,  Fig.  14,  and  the  symmetrical  cross-sections 
of  plateau  .segments,  Fig.  'M;  or  to  jnit  it  in  another  wa.y,  in  the 
unsymmetrical  valleys  that  separate  adjacent  cucsta-uplands,  and 
the  .symmetrical  valleys  that  separate  adjacent  plateau  .segments  or 
tablclaiifls.  The  twf)  sirlcs  of  an  intcr-cucsta  valley  or  depression  are 
of  unlike  h1o|)cs  and  are  underlaid  with  unlike  strata:  an  exami)le 
of  thi.s  kind  already  treated  is  the  dejjre.ssion  between  the  back 


122  THE  FIRST  UPLAND  BELT  \ 

slope  of  the  sandstones  that  maintain  the  third  upland  belt  in  the 
Forest  of  Argonne  on  the  east  and  the  low  frontal  scarp  of  the  second 
or  chalk  upland  belt  on  the  west. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Aisne  vallej^,  between  the  long  plateau 
segment  that  carries  the  Chemin  des  Dames  on  the  north  and  the 
ragged  border  of  the  Valois  upland  on  the  south,  is  of  the  same  struc- 
ture on  its  two  sides.  The  battle  front  lay  in  this  valley  for  nearly 
three  3'ears,  and  while  the  northern  side  was  in  possession  of  the 
Germans,  the  French  on  the  southern  side  could  learn  from  experi- 
ence in  their  own  trenches  and  dugouts  all  the  peculiarities  of  the 
enemy's  position,  so  far  as  they  were  dependent  on  rock  structure. 
Likewise  the  two  sides  of  the  long  plateau  segment  between  the 
valleys  of  the  Aisne  and  the  Ailette  are  of  the  same  structure :  hence, 
when  the  French,  in  the  spring  of  1917,  drove  the  Germans  up  the 
southern  side  of  the  segment,  as  is  detailed  below,  they  knew  that  the 
weak  sandstones  which  had  been  trenched  in  the  lower  slopes  and 
the  stronger  limestones  of  the  capping  bluffs  over  which  they  had 
ascended  from  the  Aisne,  would  be  repeated  in  reversed  order  when 
they  descended  the  northern  slope  to  the  Ailette,  as  they  did  a  few 
months  later;  and  that  the  same  features  would  be  encountered  again 
when  the  smaller  segments,  lying  farther  north,  come  to  be  attacked. 

5L  The  Aisne  Front.  The  position  taken  by  the  Germans 
after  the  battle  of  the  Marne  ran  from  the  southern  part  of 
the  forest  of  Argonne — the  third  upland  belt — obliquely  over 
the  second  or  chalk  upland  belt  and  across  the  Champagne 
lowland  northeast  of  Rheims  to  the  Aisne;  then  down  the 
valley  of  the  Aisne  almost  to  Soissons,  where  the  line  crossed 
obliquely  over  the  plateau  segment  next  north  and  traversed 
the  Oise  between  Compiegne  and  Noyon.  The  French  cap- 
tured the  middle  part  of  the  slope  on  the  south  side  of  the 
plateau  segment  near  Soissons  in  September,  1914,  but  could 
not  hold  it  and  were  forced  back  across  the  river.  Not  until 
two  and  a  half  years  later  was  the  German  front  along  the 
Aisne  pushed  definitively  northward.  In  March,  1917,  when 
an  important  retirement  of  the  Germans  was  made  farther 


THE  AISNE  FRONT  123 

north  (see  section  54),  they  abandoned  the  broad  western 
end  of  the  long  plateau  segment  and  withdrew  up  the  Oise; 
Noyon  was  thus  liberated,  and  Soissons,  which  had  for  more 
than  two  3'ears  suffered  bombardment,  enjoyed  comparative 
quiet  agam  and  the  restoration  of  train  service  to  Paris,  A 
month  later,  on  April  16  and  17,  an  important  movement  was 
made  along  the  valley  of  the  Aisne  east  of  the  confluence  of  the 
^'esle:  the  French  had  been  entrenched  for  about  30  months  on 
the  lower  slopes  of  the  upland  next  south  of  the  river,  while 
the  Germans  had  occupied  the  slopes  at  the  base  of  the  long 
plateau  segment  next  north  of  the  river,  through  the  villages 
of  Vaillj'  and  Chavonne,  shown  on  the  map,  pp.  118,  119. 

The  Germans  were  sheltered  in  well  prepared  dugouts 
during  a  preliminarj'  bombardment  by  the  French ;  when  the 
shells  ceased  falling  and  the  hidden  Germans  emerged  with 
their  machine  guns  to  repel  the  expected  assault,  the  up-hill 
charge  of  the  French  was  so  rapid  and  vigorous  that  thou- 
sands of  the  trench  defenders  hastily  surrendered,  and  the 
reserves  hurriedly  fled  to  the  upland  crest.  The  village  of 
Craonne,  on  the  slope  below  the  limestone  bluff  at  the  slender 
eastern  extremity  of  the  plateau  segment,  was  captured  in 
ruins  on  May  15;  the  narrow  terminal  part  of  the  segment, 
curiously  enough  called  le  plateau  de  Calif ornie,  was  taken  the 
next  day  as  well  as  a  stretch  of  the  upland  farther  west,  where 
the  road  from  Soissons  to  Laon  crosses  it  and  where  Laffaux 
mill  stands  west  of  the  fork  of  the  Chemin  des  Dames;  on 
the  following  days  greater  lengths  of  the  Chemin  des  Dames 
were  gained:  but  so  stubliorn  was  the  resistance  on  the 
plateau  that  several  months  were  there  spent  in  attacks 
and  counterattacks  and  iKjt  until  the  autunm  of  1917  were 
the  Gennans  forced  to  retreat  down  the  northern  slope  and 
retire  across  the  broad  valley  floor  of  the  Ailettc  toward  Laon. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  REGION  BETWEEN  THE  UPPER  OISE  AND 

THE  SOMME 

52.  General  Features  of  the  Region.  If  a  radius  trending 
northeastward  from  Paris  through  the  upper  Oise  be  turned 
until  it  runs  northward  through  Amiens  on  the  Somme,  the 
100  k.  of  its  outer  length,  between  70  and  170  k.  from  the  Paris 
center,  will  sweep  over  a  sector  of  rolling  surface,  mapped  on 
p.  134,  partly  a  lowland  of  sands  and  clays  (80  to  100  m.) 
partly  an  upland  of  chalk  (120  to  160  m.)  which  constitutes 
the  western  continuation  of  the  lowland  and  upland  sector 
already  described  between  the  Aisne  and  the  Oise.  It  is 
abundantly  incised  by  open  and  irregularly  branching  valleys 
from  25  to  50  m.  in  depth,  shown  in  detail  in  Fig.  38.  The 
region  therefore  has  what  may  be  called  a  quilted  surface, 
inasmuch  as  the  inter-valley  areas,  which  rise  in  broadly 
rounded  hills,  are  rather  uniformly  convex,  so  that  when 
many  of  them  are  viewed  from  the  center  of  any  one,  they  all 
unite  in  a  nearly  level  skyline;  while  the  valleys  into  which 
the  convex  areas  gradually  descend  are  comparatively  nar- 
row, like  the  seams  by  which  a  quilt  is  furrowed.  ^Only  the 
larger  streams  have  well  developed  flood  plains,  usually  less 
than  a  kilometer  across;  their  valleys  are  like  double  seams. 

The  highest  elevations  commonly  occur  along  the  broadly  arched 
divides  between  the  headwaters  of  neighboring  river  systems,  of 
which  the  most  important  separates  the  Escaut  on  the  north  and  the 
Oise  and  Somme  on  the  south,  and  trends  roughly  east  and  west. 
The  elevations  along  the  divides  are  too  low  and  too  rambUng  prop- 

124 


UPLANDS  WEST  OF  THE  UPPER  OISE  125 

erly  to  deserve  the  name  of  ridge,  but  as  our  language  has  no  better 
word  for  them,  tliat  name  is  commonly  employed.  Distinguishing 
landmarks  are  almost  wanting;  the  landscape  repeats  itself  with 
small  change  from  place  to  place.  It  is  only  in  the  southeastern  part 
of  the  lowland  area  (SO  or  90  m.)  west  of  the  middle  Oise  next  above 
the  confluence  of  the  Aisne,  that  tabular  hills  surmount  the  lowland; 
they  are  small  outlying  segments  of  the  plateau  of  the  Aisne-Ailette 
area  and  are  capped  with  the  same  limestone  (calcaire  grossier); 
similar  but  larger  tabular  hills  occur  farther  down  the  Oise,  as 
described  in  section  IS.  Elsewhere  the  capping  limestones,  which 
once  spread  far  over  the  region,  are  completely  removed;  even  the 
next  lower  strata  of  sands  and  clays  have  but  a  moderate  extension 
west  of  the  Oise,  and  beyond  them  the  still  lower  flint-bearing  chalk 
formation  is  laid  bare  at  the  beginning  of  its  wide  extension  in  north- 
western France. 

Conformably  to  the  general  structure  of  the  Paris  basin,  the 
more  resistant  chalk  strata  hereabouts  rise  very  slowly  to  the 
northeast,  north,  and  northwest  from  beneath  the  weaker 
sandy  and  claj'cy  strata,  and  thereupon  the  lowlands  are 
succeeded  by  .slowly  ri.sing  uplands.  Chalk  is  a  rock  of  moder- 
ate hardness,  easily  pervious  to  water;  hence  deep  wells  are 
needed  on  the  uplands  to  reach  a  water  supply.  The  soil 
resulting  from  its  decomposition  is  a  reddish  clay,  usually  of 
moderate  depth,  charged  with  flints;  it  represents  the  insolu- 
l>le  parts  of  the  rock  after  the  chalk  is  removed  by  solution. 
The  clay  soil  is  peculiar  having  sudden  variations  of  depth, 
as  if  the  chalk  were  more  soluble  or  solution  had  been  more 
active  at  one  point  than  at  another.  It  is,  however,  chiefly 
on  the  slopes  and  valley  sides  that  the  clay  soil  forms  the  sur- 
face; the  broad  hill  crests  are  usually  coated  over  with  a  fine 
and  fertile  loam,  easily  trenched,  and  very  quickly  converted 
into  mud  in  wot  weather. 

Woodlanfl  areas,  comparatively  small  hereabouts,  are  now 
desolated.     The  main  roads,  fomierly  bordered  by  evenly 


126 


THE  UPPER  OISE  AND  THE  SOMME 


Fig.  38.     The  Upland  about  Si 


ST.  Ql^NTIX  AND  THE  UPPER  OISE 


127 


I 


U£NT1N    ANU   TUt    L'PFtK   UlHB 


128  THE  UPPER  OISE  AND  THE  SOMME 

spaced  trees,  often  having  closely  trimmed  trunks  and  a  tuft 
of  branches  at  the  top,  are  now  bare.  As  elsewhere  in  France, 
pastures  and  cultivated  fields,  abutting  directly  upon  the 
roads,  occupy  nearly  all  the  surface;  the  open  landscape  is 
therefore  characterized  by  many  straight-line  strips  and 
patches,  varying  delicately  in  color  according  to  their  crops. 
Little  or  no  space  is  given  to  hedges,  walls,  or  fences;  for- 
merly, grazing  cattle  were  picketed  and  flocks  of  sheep  were 
restrained  from  wandering  by  shepherd  dogs.  But  now,  as 
around  Verdun,  the  country  is  laid  waste;  the  digging  of 
trenches  and  the  blasting  of  shell-craters  has  done  a  lasting 
injury  to  the  fields  by  mixing  the  humus-bearing  surface  soil 
with  the  subsoil  and  the  underlying  rock;  occasional  unex- 
ploded  shells,  buried  in  the  ground,  may  make  plowing  dan- 
gerous. It  will  be  many  years  before  the  fertihty  of  these 
devastated  areas  is  fully  regained. 

The  relief  of  the  surface  is  generally  so  moderate  that  the  main 
roads  not  infrequently  run  on  direct  courses  for  distances  of  5  or  10  k. 
Some  of  them  follow  ancient  Roman  roads,  and  on  these  the  long 
established  villages  are  not  infrequently  located;  but  the  routes 
nationales  of  modern  construction  are  commonly  laid  on  lines  that 
serve  best  to  connect  the  distant  larger  towns  and  cities,  and  there- 
fore leave  many  villages  to  one  side  or  the  other  without  turning  to 
enter  them;  these  villages  are  therefore  served  by  local  roads. 
Hence  troops  advancing  along  the  old  Roman  roads  find  more  fre- 
quent shelter  in  villages  than  if  the  advance  is  made  along  the  new 
routes.  The  railways,  having  to  respond  more  closely  to  the  form  of 
the  surface,  are  somewhat  sinuous. 

53.  Rivers  and  Cities.  The  chief  streams  of  the  region  are, 
in  the  north,  the  headwaters  of  the  Escaut,  and  of  its  western 
branches,  the  Scarpe  and  the  Sensee;  on  the  west  the  upper 
Somme.  The  Oise  forming  the  eastern  border  of  the  region, 
and  the  Sambre  farther  north,  receive  no  important  tributaries 


RRTRS  AND  CITIES  129 

from  the  area  here  considered.  The  larger  streams  wander 
in  underfit  fashion  on  fiat  and  marsliy  flood  plains,  from  a 
half  to  one  and  a  half  kilometers  in  width;  for  as  already  ex- 
plained in  the  case  of  the  Meuse  a  considerable  part  of  the 
drainage  creeps  slowly  through  the  alluvium  of  the  flood 
plain  as  an  "  untlerflow,"  and  the  visible  river  therefore  does 
not  represent  all  the  run-off  of  the  rainfall.  Below  Amiens 
and  therefore  outside  of  the  area  here  considered,  the  Somme 
valley  is  unusually  rectilinear;  above  Amiens  it  is  remarkably 
sniuous  for  25  k.;  here  the  small  river  wanders  very  irregu- 
larly as  an  underfit  stream  on  the  low  and  marshy  valley  floor. 
The  upper  Oise  has  a  similarly  irregular  course  through  its 
flood  plain,  but  its  valley  is  relatively  straight,  as  shown  on 
the  detailed  map,  page  127.  The  other  valleys  do  not  present 
jM'culiar  features. 

Canals,  almost  as  numerous  as  the  larger  streams,  serve  to  con- 
nect the  industrial  region  of  the  lowlands  farther  north,  where  coal 
mines  and  factories  abound,  with  the  metropolis  on  the  Seine  system 
to  the  south;  the  canals  not  infrequently  tunnel  under  the  divides; 
a  tunnel  of  this  kind  five  k.  in  length,  north  of  St.  Quentin,  passes 
under  the  divide  (142  m.)  between  the  headwaters  of  the  Somme  and 
the  Escaut. 

Excepting  Amiens  (93,207)  on  the  Somme,  there  are  no 
large  cities  in  this  region;  l)ut  the  names  of  many  smaller 
cities  have  Vjecome  famous  during  the  War.  Arras  (see  Fig. 
40)  lies  on  the  Scarpe  near  the  descent  of  the  chalk  uplands  to 
the  lowlands  of  northernmost  France  or  French  Flanders,  to 
be  described  in  section  (iO;  lY-ronne  and  St.  (Quentin  lie  on  the 
uppermost  Somme;  Albert  and  Roye  are  on  its  branches; 
Noyon  stands  between  two  of  the  tabular  hills  west  of  the 
middle  Oise;  La  Fdrc  and  Chuuny  lie  in  the  (Jisc  valley  where 
it  ai)proaches  the  tabular  hills  north  of  the  Aisnc.    The  vil- 


130  THE  UPPER  OISE  AND  THE  SOMME 

lages  of  the  region  are  arbitrarily  placed  on  the  inter-valley 
arches,  on  the  slopes  or  in  the  valleys. 

54.  The  War  Front  from  the  Oise  to  the  Scarpe.  Interest  in 
the  simple  landscapes  of  this  region  centers  at  present  in  their 
relation  to  the  shifts  of  the  fighting  front  between  the  Allied 
and  the  German  armies.  From  September,  1914,  to  the  sum- 
mer of  1916,  the  hne  of  contact  suffered  little  change;  trend- 
ing southward  from  the  Belgian  frontier  near  the  coast  across 
the  lowlands  of  French  Flanders,  it  ascended  to  the  chalk 
uplands  near  Arras  and  continued  to  Noyon,  where  it  turned 
eastward  across  the  middle  Oise  to  the  valley  of  the  Aisne, 
as  noted  above.  Midway  between  Arras  and  Noyon,  the 
line  crossed  the  sinuous  valley  of  the  Somme,  and  there  in 
early  July,  1916,  the  battle  of  the  Somme  resulted  in  an  ad- 
vance toward  Peronne.  Three  months  later  the  advance  was 
increased,  and.  the  indentation  thus  made  in  the  German  line 
endangered  the  adjacent  salients,  one  on  the  north  including 
Bapaume  between  the  Somme  and  the  Scarpe,  the  other  of 
larger  area  on  the  south  including  Roye  and  Noyon  between 
the  Somme  and  the  Oise. 

The  vertex  of  the  Bapaume  sahent  at  Thiepval  was  cut  off 
in  mid-November,  1916,  and  at  the  end  of  that  year,  Peronne 
was  almost  reached.  A  still  closer  approach  to  Bapaume  was 
made  near  the  close  of  February  following.  Thereupon  the 
Germans  made  a  ''  strategic  retirement,"  barbarously  dev- 
astating the  countryside  as  they  withdrew,  so  that  in  March, 
1917,  the  two  salients  were  reduced  to  a  rectified  front,  run- 
ning in  a  comparatively  direct  line  from  near  Arras,  south- 
southeast  to  La  Fere  on  the  Oise,  where  the  valley  plain  was 
flooded  by  opening  the  canal  further  north  as  a  means  of 
protecting  the  retreat;  thence  over  the  tabular  hills  to  the 
Aisne  below  Soissons.    Thus  Bapaume  in  the  northern  salient, 


SHIFTS  OF  THE  BATTLE  FRONT 


131 


25 


30   M. 


Arras 


20  41  D  3W     fvi  . 

OUTLINE    MAP 
OF     THE     FRONT     FROM 


'•,    'Vq'/.  of    the    front    from 

<i;-    ARRAS  to  SOISSONS 


I 


o  ^x  VV 

Croiselles         "»  <»',  ^/ 

Queant\°  •       qSo  Cambrai 

\          2;       Ujj 
Bapaume  ',       V/. ^ 

°  Hermies  o-.-^^T^Marcoing 

t       • 


.    /  O  1     ^x^— 

I  •.  f  ^  Hermies  o  i— "^  . 

"oN^oThiepval'-^;'^^  Bertincourt  ^^^^ 

^\  '•••.^    Gouzeaucourt  o   \ 


Le  Catelet 


Fig.  .'19.     Map  of  the  Fuont  fijom  Auuah  to  Soiksons 


132  THE  UPPER  OISE  AND  THE  SOMME 

Roye  and  Noyon  in  the  southern  sahent,  and  Peronne  be- 
tween the  two,  were  recovered.  The  length  of  the  rectified 
front  to  which  retreat  was  made  is  about  110  k.;  the  maxi- 
mum depth  of  retreat  was  nearly  50  k.  The  next  important 
objectives  back  of  the  line  thus  assumed  and  west  of  the  Oise 
were  Cambrai  and  St.  Quentin:  an  important  eastward 
drive  toward  Cambrai  was  made  by  the  British  in  November, 
1917;  combined  with  this  the  northward  advance  of  the 
French  toward  Laon  at  a  little  earlier  date  left  St.  Quentin 
and  La  Fere  in  increasingly  exposed  positions. 

While  this  book  is  going  through  the  press,  March,  1918, 
the  counter-drive  of  the  Germans  is  in  progress  and  line  of  the 
front  has  been  shifted  back  again  from  the  eastern  to  the 
western  position,  shown  in  Fig.  39.  South  of  the  front 
which  they  have  thus  gained,  the  first  upland  belt,  indented 
by  the  oblique  valley  of  the  Oise,  is  reduced  to  its  least 
width;  here  the  natural  rampart  around  Paris  is  most  vul- 
nerable: here,  attack  and  defence  will  be  most  violent. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  NORTHWESTERN  UPLANDS 

55.  The  Chalk  Coimtry  of  Picardy  and  Normandy.  The  wide 
saddle  of  nearl}'  horizontal  chalk  strata,  between  the  Ardennes 
highlands  on  the  northeast  and  the  Arniorican  hills  beyond 
the  Seine  on  the  southwest,  includes  the  uplands  of  the  old 
provinces  of  Picardy  and  Normandy.  These  uplands  reach 
altitudes  of  from  130  to  200  m.,  and  occupy  a  belt  which 
))orders  the  English  Channel  for  220  k.  from  Cape  Oris  Nez 
to  the  Bay  of  the  Seine  and  extends  80  k.or  more  inland;  they 
are  adjoined  on  the  northeast  by  the  lowlands  of  northern- 
most France,  described  in  the  following  chapter;  they  de- 
cline gradually  southeastward  to  the  lower  land  along  the 
middle  Oi.se;  farther  south  toward  Paris  they  are  overlapped 
by  the  uplands  of  the  Vexin  salients,  described  in  section  18. 
The  underlying  chalk  controls  the  features  of  all  this  region: 
indeed,  an  area  stretching  northward  from  the  lower  Seine  to 
liie  coast  is  known  as  the  Pays  de  Caux  or  the  Chalk-land 
(Caux,  provincial  for  Chaux  =  Latin,  calx;  English,  chalk). 
'{"he  features  hefe  encountered  therefore  repeat  those  de- 
scribed in  the  preceding  chapter,  but  with  somewhat  greater 
relief. 

Tiic  uphui<l."<,  (hvided  by  irregularly  i)ranching  valleys,  un- 
dulate gently  in  broad,  faint  arches  one  after  another,  and  are 
of  unifcjrm  appearance  over  large  areas.  Their  surface  is 
usually  cloaked  with  a  fine  and  fertile  loam;  wiiere  this  is 
absent,  as  is  commordy  the  case  on  the  slopes  toward  the 

133 


134 


THE  NORTHWESTERN  UPLANDS 


— r- 
20 


NORTH  SEA 


e'o  MILES         o 
Nieuport     \_,, 


Fig.  40.  The  Uplands  of  Northern  France 


CHALK  COUNTRY  OF  PICARDY  AND  NORMANDY    135 

valleys,  the  soil  formed  by  leaching  out  the  soluble  chalk 
consists  of  a  reddish  clayey  residue,  frequently  packed  with 
flints,  as  already  described  in  the  region  between  the  Oise  and 
the  Somme.  Several  large  forested  areas,  traversed  by  lanes 
in  geometrical  patterns,  are  preserved  on  the  uplands  border- 
ing the  lower  Seine,  but  elsewhere  the  prevailing  absence  of 
woodland,  hedges,  and  fences  gives  the  gently  rolling  land- 
scape a  peculiarly  open  quality  over  large  areas,  in  spite  of  its 
subdivision  into  fields,  crossed  in  the  distance  by  road-lines 
of  spaced  trees. 

The  irregularly  branching  valleys  of  the  chalk  uplands  are  wide- 
spaced,  because  so  large  a  proportion  of  rain  water  has  for  ages  past 
sunk  into  the  ground  that  little  has  been  left  to  act  as  wandering  sur- 
face streams  in  the  work  of  vallej-  excavation.  The  smaller  streams 
extend, 'as  commonly  happens  in  areas  of  horizontal  strata,  in  all 
directions  indifferently;  but  exception  must  be  made  to  this  rule  in 
the  case  of  the  lower  Somme  and  several  neighboring  streams,  for 
their  northwestern  trends  are  markedly  rectilinear  and  parallel.  The 
rule  of  wandering  streams  obtains,  however,  over  a  much  larger  area 
and  is  nowhere  better  shown  than  in  the  upper  Somme,  which,  as 
aheady  described  in  section  53,  winds  about  in  an  uncertain  manner 
on  the  marshy  flood  plain  of  its  serpentine  valley.  Through  most  of 
this  region,  the  upland  spurs  interlock  with  the  valley  bottoms  very 
much  as  the  fingers  of  a  hand,  held  palm  down,  may  interlock  with 
tho.se  of  another  hand,  held  palm  up;  but  the  upland  fingers  are 
broad  with  irregularly  lobed  margins,  and  the  vallc}-  fingers  are 
narrow  with  many  irregular  branches. 

50.  Villages  and  Roads.  N'illages  are  compactly  clustered  on 
fhf  ui)lands,  for  the  underlying  chalk  being  a  pervious  rock, 
ground  wat«r  is  sometimes  GO  or  80  m.  behnv  the  upland  sur- 
face ;  hence  economy  demands  that  one  well  shall  serve  many 
families.  The  village  churches  or  tree-groups  form  the  chief 
landmarks  on  the  Vjroad  uplands.    The  better  roads  are  sur- 


136  THE  NORTHWESTERN  UPLANDS 

faced  with  broken  flints  packed  in  chalk,  and  are  gleaming 
white  in  sunshine;  they  serve  well  if  well  used,  but  the  flints 
present  many  sharp  edges  if  ordinary  traffic  is  so  infrequent 
as  to  let  rain-water  wash  off  the  binding  material  or  if  heavy 
traffic  wears  it  away. 

Some  of  the  roads  and  railways  follow  relatively  direct  courses 
across  the  uplands,  rising  and  falling  with  the  gentle  undulations  of 
the  surface,  turning  slightly  to  approach  a  larger  village  or  curving 
around  a  valley  head  to  avoid  steep  descents  or  to  save  the  heavy 
cost  of  viaduct  construction;  others  follow  the  larger  valleys,  as- 
sured of  easy  and  steady  grades,  but  turning  as  the  valleys  turn  and 
bridging  the  main  and  side  streams  as  occasion  requires;  still  others 
connect  the  upland  and  the  valley  roads  by  branching  along  little 
side- valleys  that  unite  the  two  levels.  The  main  line  of  the  Northern 
Railway  —  le  Chemin  de  Fer  du  Nord  —  from  Paris  to  Calais,  via 
Amiens,  shows  many  of  these  devices. 

Woodland  is  more  common  on  the  valley  sides  than  on  the  up- 
lands. The  higher  parts  of  the  valley  ends  are  dry;  running  streams 
are  not  found  until  the  valley  is  followed  down  to  a  considerable 
depth  below  the  upland  surface;  there  the  verdant  valley  floors  are 
wide  enough  for  small  fields  and  gardens,  near  which  every  house 
may  have  its  own  well,  for  ground  water  is  here  found  at  little  depth; 
hence  the  compact  villages  around  the  deep  wells  of  the  uplands  are 
replaced  in  the  valleys  by  long  villages  of  detached  houses. 

Some  of  the  larger  valleys,  like  that  of  the  Somme,  have  wet  and 
marshy  flood  plains  in  which  the  water  area  is  increased  by  the  ex- 
cavation of  peat  for  fuel  and  by  the  construction  of  fish  ponds.  The 
lower  valley  of  the  Somme  is  also  notable  for  its  gravel  terraces  of 
moderate  height  but  of  great  scientific  interest,  for  it  was  in  these 
terraces  near  Abbeville,  25  k.  inland  from  the  coast,  that  to  the 
astonishment  not  to  say  incredulity  of  the  world  Boucher  de  Perthes 
seventy-five  years  ago  found  artificially  chipped  flints,  the  first  au- 
thentic traces  of  prehistoric  man,  the  contemporary  of  animals  now 
extinct,  and  thus  made  a  beginning  for  the  science  of  archaeology. 

57.  Valley  of  the  Seine.  The  lower  Seine  is  the  chief  river  of 
this  region;  it  has  so  winding  a  course  that  a  direct  distance 


VALLEY  OF  THE  SEINE  137 

of  70  k.  inland  from  the  head  of  its  estuary  is  nearly  doubled 
if  the  river  is  followed.  Each  convex  curve  of  the  winding 
river  sweeps  around  the  base  of  a  great  amphitheater,  3  to  5  k. 
in  radius,  alternately  on  the  right  and  left  bank,  where  the 
upland  is  undercut  to  a  steep  descent;  and  into  each  river 
curve,  alternately  from  the  left  and  right,  a  spur  slopes  down 
from  the  opposite  upland.  Scroll-shaped  belts  of  flood  plain, 
sweeping  around  the  spur  ends,  border  the  river,  now  on  one 
bank,  now  on  the  other,  in  the  manner  described  for  the 
looped  course  of  the  river  below  Paris  in  section  19. 

The  tide,  advancing  through  the  narrowing  estuary  of  the  Seine,  is 
crowded  into  a  rapid  current  which  at  certain  times  each  month  rises 
rapidly  (4  meters  in  30  minutes)  and  rushes  50  or  60  k.  up  the  river, 
assuming  for  part  of  this  distance  the  form  of  foaming  waves, 
known  as  le  mascaret,  and  causing  a  quick  rise  from  low  to  high  water; 
the  flood  current  may  be  so  swift  that  river  boats  omit  landings  while 
it  is  running.  Tlie  fall  from  high  water  to  low  is  more  leisurely; 
then  the  normal  down-vallc^'  current  prevails.  The  rapid  inflow 
must  have  been  an  aid  to  the  sea-faring  Northmen,  when  they  came 
up  the  river  in  the  ninth  century  in  their  boats  as  far  as  Jlouen  and 
established  themselves  in  the  district  which,  as  Normandy,  has  since 
borne  their  name.  The  tidal  currents  give  so  great  a  reenforcement 
to  the  normal  current  of  the  river  through  the  lower  30  k.  of  its 
estuarine  length,  that  the  upland  spurs,  around  which  the  river 
farther  upstream  flows  in  so  winding  a  course,  are  here  nearly  worn 
away,  and  the  deep-water  channel  through  the  low-tide  mud  flats  of 
the  widened  estuary  is  almost  directly  from  east  to  west. 

The  buoys  along  the  cliannel  nmst  be  carefully  regarded.  It  is 
recorded  that  a  IJritisli  steamer  some  years  ago  unwarily  ran  half 
aground  on  th(;  channel  border  at  high  tide;  the  ebb  current  scoured 
away  the  mud  under  the  b(jw;  bow  and  stern  being  then  unsup- 
jKjrtcd  at  low  water,  the  vessel  broke  in  lialf  and  the  two  ends  tilted 
down,  leaving  the  broken  hull  high  and  tlry  ainidshii)s;  the  next 
Hood  and  ebb  currents  scoured  away  the  mud  under  the  break,  and 
at  the  second  low  water,  both  parts  of  the  hull  settled  deei)er  than 


138  THE  NORTHWESTERN  UPLANDS 

before;  after  a  few  days  the  vessel  was  almost  buried  out  of  sight, 
a  total  loss. 

The  modern  commercial  city  of  Havre  (136,159)  lies  on  the 
northern  shore  of  the  estuary.  At  the  third  pronounced  north- 
eastern curve  of  the  Seine  counting  up  stream,  and  70  k.  in  a 
direct  line  east  of  Havre,  but  120  k.  following  the  river,  the 
ancient  city  of  Rouen  (124,987)  is  situated  on  the  right  bank: 
here  are  the  first  bridges  over  the  river.  A  spur  of  the  upland 
next  east  of  the  city,  160  m.  in  altitude,  is  ascended  by  an  in- 
clined railway  and  offers  a  fine  prospect  over  the  open  valley 
and  the  enclosing  uplands.  Elboeuf  is  on  the  next  south- 
western curve  of  the  river  above  Rouen.  Navigation  up 
stream  to  Paris  is  made  possible  for  good  sized  vessels  by 
locks.  An  important  line  of  "the  Western  Railway  —  Chemin 
de  Fer  de  I'Ouest  —  follows  the  winding  valley  around  its 
larger  curves  from  Paris  to  Rouen,  but  shortens  its  route 
somewhat  by  crossing  the  river  several  times  and  by  tunnel- 
ing through  the  narrower  spurs;  its  continuation  from  Rouen 
to  Havre  passes  over  the  uplands. 

No  cities  of  importance  are  found  on  the  inter-valley  uplands; 
they  are  all  in  the  larger  valleys  or  on  the  coast.  Beauvais  and 
Neufchatel  lie  in  or  near  the  depression  of  the  Pays  de  Bray  (de- 
scribed in  the  second  following  paragraph),  Amiens  and  Abbeville 
are  on  the  Somme;  while  Fecamp,  Dieppe,  and  Boulogne-sur-Mer 
are  on  the  coast,  as  will  be  further  stated  below.  Some  of  the  upland 
villages  are  of  historic  interest  as  the  scene  of  battles  between  the 
French  and  English,  during  the  period  in  which  the  Plantagenet 
kings  of  England  tried  to  maintain  territory  in  France  inherited  from 
their  Norman  predecessors;  thus  Cr^cy  where  Edward  III  defeated 
the  French  in  1346  lies  on  the  upland  north  of  Abbeville;  Agincourt 
where  Henry  V  defeated  the  French  in  1415  is  some  30  k.  farther 
northeast  (see  map,  page  134) ;  but  forty  years  later,  the  French 
drove  the  English  out  of  France. 


THE  BOULONNAIS 


139 


58.  Exceptional  Features.  A  district  of  exceptional  features,  known 
as  le  Boulonnais,  is  found  in  Artois,  the  northernmost  province  of 
France;  it  borders  the  narrowest  part  of  the  Channel  opposite 
Dover,  whore  tlie  coast  makes  out  in  the  salient  of  which  Cape  Oris 


Fig.  41.    TiiK  Boulonnais,  between  Boulogne  and  Calais 


Xez  is  the  extremity,  with  Calais  on  the  northeast  and  Boulogne- 
sur-Mer  on  the  south.  A  broad  and  ancient  domehkc  upheaval  of 
the  strata  extends  across  the  Channel  from  southeastern  England 
and  here  enters  France  for  25  k.;  as  a  result  the  chalk  beds,  which 
elsewhere  cover  the  uplands,  have  been  worn  away  from  the  up- 
heaved area,  .so  that  their  slanting  edge  forms  an  irregular  rampart 
around  an  enclosed  space  in  which  the  underlying  strata,  eroded  into 


140 


THE  NORTHWESTERN  UPLANDS 


hills,  meet  the  coast  in  cliffs  of  variable  structure  and  form.  It  was 
in  the  gently  slanting  strata  on  the  outer  slope  of  this  upheaved  area 
that  the  first  "  artesian  "  well  was  bored. 

Another  exceptional  district  is  a  lowland  belt,  known  as  the  Pays 
de  Bray,  which  crosses  the  middle  of  the  chalk  uplands  northwest  of 
Paris;  its  outline  resembles  that  of  a  long-bow  and  its  string,  with 
the  gently  convex  bowside  to  the  southwest,  and  a  string  length  of 
about  70  k.  from  northwest  to  southeast.  This  district  is  deter- 
mined by  an  unsymmetrical  upheaval,  partly  shown  in  section 
in  Fig.  44;  but  the  upheaval  occurred  so  long  ago  in  the  geological 


Fig.  42.    The  Pays  de  Bray 

past  that  the  covering  strata  of  chalk  have  been  worn  away  and  the 
weaker  underlying  strata  have  been  worn  down  in  a  depression. 
Along  the  southwestern  side  of  the  depression  the  edge  of  the  up- 
turned chalk  forms  a  long  and  well  defined  ridge  (200-230  m.),  a 
superb  line  of  defence  from  attack  on  the  north. 

The  Pays  de  Bray  is  therefore  a  good  example  of  a  lowland  that 
has  been  eroded  along  an  upheaved  belt  of  weak  strata,  and  that  is 
enclosed  by  uplands  of  less  upheaved  but  more  resistant  strata. 
The  lowland  is  partly  drained  northwestward  to  the  coast  by  the 
rectilinear  Bethune,  at  the  mouth  of  which  lies  Dieppe;  but  also  by 
the  Andelle  and  the  Epte  which  fiow  from  the  central  part  of  the 
lowland  southward  through  the  chalk  uplands  to  the  Seine.  The 
Therain  flows  southeastward  to  the  Oise  in  a  valley  of  the  uplands 


THE  CLIFT  COAST  141 

next  northeast  of  the  lowland.  The  fertile  soils  of  the  lowland  and 
its  branch  valleys  are  noted  for  their  dairy  farms.  Its  chief  towns 
are,  as  above  noted,  Neufchdtel  near  the  northwestern  end  and 
Beauvais  on  the  northeastern  margin.  It  is  the  erosion  following  the 
Pays  de  Bray  upheaval,  where  it  was  prolonged  with  decreasing 
strength  to  the  southeast  across  the  Oise,  that  causes  the  separation 
of  the  smaller  upland  salients  west  of  the  middle  Oise  below  Com- 
piegne  from  the  larger  upland  salient  that  extends  west  of  the  lower 
Oise,  as  described  in  section  18. 

59.  The  Clift  Coast  along  the  Channel.  The  sea  cliffs  by 
which,  for  a  distance  of  some  200  k.,  the  chalk  uplands  are  cut 
off  along  the  coast  —  similar  to  but  of  much  greater  'longshore 
extent  than  those  of  Dover  in  southeastern  England  —  are 
the  first  sight  of  France  for  many  a  transatlantic  traveller. 
Their  outline  is  of  gently  sinuous  pattern;  their  height  is 
from  80  to  130  m.;  their  precipitous  gray  face  is  faintly 
marked  with  horizontal  bands  of  included  flints,  irregular  in 
form  and  of  fist  or  head  size,  and  is  disfigured  by  vertical 
streaks  of  soil-wash. 

The  cliffs  have  manifestly  been  cut  back  far  behind  the  original 
seaward  extension  of  the  chalk  strata.  Little  valleys  in  the  uplands 
are  sharply  cut  off  in  the  cliff  face.  Thej'  sometimes  converge  toward 
the  shore  lino,  as  if  to  join  a  trunk  valle}'  farther  on;  but  the  trunk 
vallej'  as  well  as  the  upland  which  enclosed  it  have  been  undercut 
and  consumed,  and  their  space  is  now  occupied  by  the  sea.  If  one 
walks  along  the  cliff  top,  whence  a  beautiful  view  over  the  Channel 
may  be  enjoyed,  fissures  may  be  seen  parallel  to  the  cliff  face  and  a 
few  feet  back  from  it,  presaging  the  detachment  and  fall  of  a  great 
.slab  or  blfjck;  the  older  furrows  of  a  plowed  upland  fii.'ld  may  some- 
times be  noted  on  the  dangerous  side  of  the  (i.ssure;  detached  slabs, 
shattered  by  their  fall,  are  occasionally  to  be  recognized  in  heaps 
of  fragments  at  the  cliff  base,  not  yet  wholly  removed  by  the  restless 
sea. 

A  sheet  of  beacii  detritus  spreads  .seaward  from  tiie  clilT  base  on  the 
slowly  deepening  bottom;    it  consists  of  cobbles  and  pebbles  on 


142  THE  NORTHWESTERN  UPLANDS 

shore,  and  of  pebbles  and  sand  farther  off  shore;  the  cobbles,  peb- 
bles, and  sand  are  the  waterworn  fragments  of  flints  which  withstand 
the  beating  of  the  waves  long  after  the  chalk  in  which  they  were 
embedded  in  the  cliff  face  has  been  disintegrated  and  dissolved  to  a 
residual  silt  and  washed  far  out  to  the  deeper  sea  floor.  The  vertical 
range  of  the  tide  from  high  to  low  water  is  six  or  seven  m. ;  the  flood 
and  ebb  'longshore  currents  are  strong.  The  beach  is  submerged 
when  stormy  winds  drive  the  turbid  waves  of  high  tides  against  the 
cliff;  it  emerges  at  low  tide  in  a  broad  and  gentle  seaward  slope,  ter- 
raced near  its  top  with  long  lines  of  horizontal  benches  or  "curbs," 
which  mark  the  reach  of  recent  high  tides.  Where  cobbles  and  peb- 
bles are  absent,  the  low-tide  beach  is  at  some  places  dangerous  from 
quicksands;  where  storms  have  removed  the  beach  detritus,  the 
wave-cut  rock  platform  which  underlies  it  is  laid  bare. 

Along  the  middle  of  the  reentrant  in  the  northwestern  coast, 
known  as  the  Bight  of  the  Somme,  between  Boulogne-sur- 
Mer  and  Dieppe,  the  upland  margin  is  fronted  for  a  distance 
of  65  k.  by  an  alluvial  lowland,  12  k,  in  greatest  breadth, 
except  where  it  is  interrupted  by  the  Somme  estua-ry.  The 
outer  border  of  the  lowland  bears  a  belt  of  dunes,  which 
broadens  to  the  north  toward  Boulogne;  the  inner  border  is  a 
line  of  abandoned  sea  cliffs,  which  must  have  been  cut  back 
by  the  sea  before  the  low  plain  was  formed,  and  which  were 
then  presumably  as  steep  as  the  exposed  cliffs  at  Dieppe  and 
farther  southwest,  but  which  are  now  of  more  moderate  slope, 
since  the  waves  no  longer  remove  the  talus  from  their  base. 

The  clift  coast  of  the  northwestern  uplands  does  not  favor 
navigation,  as  it  has  no  good  natural  harbors.  Many  of  the 
smaller  upland  valleys,  without  streams  except  in  wet  weather, 
are  not  cut  down  to  sea  level;  they  appear  merely  as  depres- 
sions in  the  cliff  top  when  seen  from  off  shore.  It  is  only  in  the 
larger  valley  mouths,  drained  by  perennial  streams  and  there- 
fore cut  down  deep  enough  to  be  entered  by  short  sea  arms, 
that  harborage  is  found;  and  even  here  the  beach  detritus  is 


IL\RBORS  OF  THE  CLIFT  COAST  143 

so  actively  and  abundantly  swept  along  shore  by  storm 
waves  and  tidal  currents  that  it  is  difficult  to  prevent  the 
harbors  from  being  filled  up.  Long  jetties  have  been  con- 
structed for  this  purpose  where  the  need  of  harbors  warrants 
it.  Protection  is  thus  afforded  vessels  at  a  dozen  points;  the 
chief  ports  where,  with  the  aid  of  breakwaters  and  dredging, 
depth  of  water  sufficient  for  larger  vessels  is  provided  are 
Calais  (72,322)  and  Boulogne-sur-Mer  (53,128)  on  the  Straits 
of  Dover  {Pas  de  Calais),  Dieppe  near  the  mid-length  of  the 
clift  coast,  and  Havre  which  lies  on  the  north  side  of  the 
largest  reentrant,  a  little  back  from  the  clift  outer  coast  at 
the  estuarine  mouth  of  the  largest  river,  the  Seine.  Etretat, 
Fecamp,  and  St.  \'al^ry-en-Caux  are  watering  places  in 
valleys  on  the  coasts  between  Havre  and  Dieppe. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  LOWLANDS  OF  NORTHERNMOST  FRANCE 
AND  WESTERN  BELGIUM 

60.  The  Lowland,  the  Maritime  Plain,  and  the  Dunes.  The 
chalk  uplands  of  Picardy  and  Artois  fall  off  abruptly  north- 
eastward to  the  lowland  of  the  district  known  as  Flanders, 
partly  in  France,  partly  in  Belgium,  where  the  chalk  strata, 
warped  down  to  lower  levels,  are  overlapped  by  younger  beds 
of  sand  and  silt.  This  area  may  be  divided  into  thi:ee  belts 
parallel  to  the  shore  line;  the  middle  belt  is  a  low  maritime 
plain,  about  30  k.  wide  in  Belgium,  but  widening  northeast- 
ward; it  is  of  fine,  moist  soil,  hardly  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  from  which  it  is  separated  by  the  outer  belt  of  beach  and 
dunes;  the  third  belt  is  farther  inland,  a  gently  undulating 
sandy  lowland,  which  rises  gradually  southeastward;  it  may 
be  called  the  lowland  of  Flanders.  The  lowland  will  be  first 
described;  then  the  maritime  plain,  and  finally  the  belt  of 
dunes. 

The  Lowland  of  Flanders.  The  lowland  is  relatively  infer- 
tile :  it  is  the  narrow  beginning  of  a  long  belt  of  sandy  coun- 
try originally  covered  with  heathery  moors,  which  widens 
northeastward  and  stretches  across  Belgium  and  Holland  into 
Germany.  Parts  of  the  surface  are  more  fertile,  where  it  is 
cloaked  with  a  fine  yellow  loam,  which  is  rapidly  transformed 
into  mud  in  wet  weather,  as  many  a  soldier  knows  who  has 
served  in  the  trenches  hereabouts.  Occasional  hills  surmount 
the  lowland.    On  the  French  side  of  the  boundary,  the  pic- 

144 


THE  LOWLAND  OF  FL.\NDERS  145 

tiiresqiie  town  of  Cassel,  east  of  St.  Omer  and  28  k.  south  of 
Dunkirk  on  the  coast,  crowns  one  of  the  hills,  170  m.  in  height; 
to  the  east  near  Ypres,  on  Belgian  territory,  Mt.  Kemniel 
rises  to  150  m.  altitude. 

Farther  inland,  two  broad  areas  of  lowland  plains,  almost 
free  from  hills,  lie  at  distances  of  from  50  to  70  and  from  80  to 
100  k.  southeast  of  the  coast  at  Dunkirk;  the  first  plain  is 
tlrained  northward  across  the  Belgian  lowland  by  the  Lys; 
the  second  is  shnilarly  drained  by  the  Scarpe  and  the  Escaut, 
small  streams  of  leisurely  flow,  hardly  below  the  level  of  the 
adjoining  meatlows.  East  of  the  second  plain,  the  lowland 
rises  toward  the  interior,  with  occasional  hills  above  the  gen- 
eral .surface:  thus  5  k.  north  of  Tournai  on  the  Escaut,  Mt. 
St.  Aubert  reaches  an  altitude  of  150  m.,  while  the  rolling  low- 
land stands  at  30  or  40  m.  Man}'  of  the  main  roads  here- 
abouts are  surfaced  with  square-cut  "  Belgian  blocks  "  of 
resistant  rock,  mostly  from  the  Ardennes,  thus  making  a 
durable  but  rough  roadway. 

It  is  into  this  lowland  district  that  the  belts  of  strongly  tilted 
coal-bearing  formations,  which  roach  tlio  surface  farther  east  along 
tlie  northern  slope  of  the  Ardennes  (see  map,  p.  153),  are  extended 
through  western  lielgium  into  France  (see  map,  p.  134)  beneath  the 
horizontal  strata  —  chalk,  clays,  and  sands  —  of  the  Paris  basin, 
and  as  a  result  this  district  is  of  great  industrial  importance.  All  the 
many  coal  mines  uj^on  which  the  industries  depend  nmst  sink  their 
shafts  as  at  I^ens  near  the  southern  side  of  the  L3's  plain,  through 
some  50  or  100  m.  of  barren  horizontal  strata,  before  the  tilted  coal 
beds  an;  reached. 

IJlle  (217, SOT),  an  important  industrial  and  university  city  on 
the  low  plain  of  the  Lys,  is  the  largest  of  the  region:  Roul)aix  (122,- 
723J  and  Tourcoing  (82,044),  manufacturing  cities  of  rapid  growth 
likr-  Lille  in  the  last  century,  are  a  little  farther  north  in  nil  indenta- 
tion of  the  frontier,  and  across  the  frontier  lie  the  Jielgian  cities  of 
Courtrui  a  short  distance  farther  on  and  Tournay  to  the  eatit.    Valen- 


146        LOWLANDS  OF  FRANCE  AND  BELGIUM 

ciennes  is  on  the  low  plain  of  the  Escaut;  Cambrai  is  on  the  same 
river  and  Douai  on  its  branch,  the  Scarpe;  the  last  two  lie  near  the 
southern  border  of  the  lowland  near  the  chalk  uplands  on  the  south . 
All  of  these  industrial  cities  profit  from  the  coal  mines  of  their 
district. 

61 .  The  Maritime  Plain  of  Flanders.  The  maritime  plain  is 
of  special  interest.  The  fine  soils  of  the  plain  are  underlaid  at  a 
moderate  depth  by  the  seaward  extension  of  the  sandy  strata 
which  form  the  inland  plain,  and  which  testify  by  their  marine 
fossils  to  an  ancient  submergence  of  the  region  beneath  the 
sea.  But  between  the  surface  soils  and  the  underlying  sandy 
strata,  an  extensive  marsh  deposit  of  peat  and  other  fresh 

\.rA    DUNES      MARITIMF  PI  AIM  LOWLAND 

Fig.  43.     The  Maeitime  Plain  of  Flanders 

water  plants  (black  in  Fig.  43)  is  found,  a  meter  or  more  in 
thickness.  A  broad  emergence  of  the  region  must  have  taken 
place  in  prehistoric  times  to  permit  the  formation  of  the 
fresh-water  marsh  deposit.  Then  a  submergence  must  have 
ensued,  as  the  fine  soils,  which  now  cover  the  marsh  deposit 
to  a  depth  of  several  meters,  contain  shells  like  those  still 
found  in  the  adjoining  sea. 

Singular  to  relate,  the  upper  layers  of  the  marsh  deposit  contain 
relics  of  the  stone  age  and  the  bronze  age  of  prehistoric  man,  as  well 
as  Gallic  and  Roman  coins  down  to  the  fourth  century  of  the  Chris- 
tian era.  Hence  the  submergence  of  the  marshy  belt  presumably 
occurred  in  the  next  following  century.  After  the  submergence  took 
place,  the  sea  border  of  Flanders  must  have  resembled  the  present 
Frisian  coast  of  northern  Holland,  where  the  outlying  dune  islands 
are  separated  from  the  mainland  by  a  debatable  belt,  alternately 
flooded  and  laid  bare  by  the  rising  and  falling  tide;  and  just  as  those 
Frisian  islands  are  now  inhabited,  although  the  debatable  belt  be- 


THE  I\L\RITIME  PLAIN  147 

hind  them  is  ordinaril}-  submerged,  so  the  dunes  along  the  Flemish 
coast  appear  to  have  been  inhabited  through  the  dark  ages  from  the 
seventh  to  the  twelfth  century,  while  the  area  of  the  maritime  plain 
that  they  enclose  was  submerged  under  a  ver}-  shallow  sea.  The 
lat€r  emergence  whereb\'  the  present  maritime  plain  was  formed  is 
believed  to  be  due  not  so  much  to  an  uplift  of  the  land  as  to  the 
accumulation  of  marine  sediments,  swept  into  the  shallow  sea  by 
currents  from  the  southwest. 

The  maritime  plain  of  Flanders  thus  constituted  is  remark- 
ablj'  level,  hardly  varying  two  meters  in  height  in  as  many 
kilometers  of  distance.  Its  surface  is  somewhat  lower  than 
present  sea  level  at  high  tide.  It  therefore  offers  a  remarkable 
contrast  to  the  chalk  uplands  of  Picardy  and  Normandy. 
There  water  is  deficient  and  the  village  houses  cluster  around 
deep  wells;  here  water  is  m  excess;  the  plain  is  not  only 
threatened  by  floods  from  high  tides,  especially  when  land- 
ward storms  brush  the  rising  sea  up  on  the  shelving  shore,  but 
it  is  also  in  danger  of  floods  from  rain  and  from  rivers. 

The  low  and  level  plain  must  therefore  be  drained  by  many 
flitches  and  canals  to  the  sluggish  streams,  the  fields  must  be 
enclosed  by  dikes,  and  the  stream  mouths  at  breaches  in  the 
dunes  must  be  closed  with  locks;  the  locks  are  kept  shut  at 
high  tide  when  the  sea  almost  reaches  the  base  of  the  dunes, 
but  are  opened  twice  a  day  to  discharge  the  streams  when  the 
tide  falls  and  lays  the  beach  bare  far  outside  of  the  high-tide 
shore  line.  So  threatening  are  the  dangers  of  inundation  from 
land,  sky,  and  sea,  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  plain  have  for 
centuries  past  organized  themselves  in  societies,  known  as 
"  Wateringues,"  for  maintaining  the  dikes,  the  canals,  and  the 
locks. 

02.  The  Dune-bordered  Coast.  The  dune-bordered  shore  line 
of  Flanders  is  almost  rectilinear  and  the  sea  is  so  shallow  that 


148         LOWLANDS  OF  FRANCE  AND  BELGIUM 

the  retreating  tide  lays  bare  a  broad  flat  of  sands.  All  the 
ports  of  the  smooth  shore  line  are  of  artificial  construction; 
their  basins  must  be  dredged  and  their  entering  channels  must 
be  protected  by  long  jetties.  Calais  lies  at  the  junction  of  the 
plain  and  the  chalk  uplands  on  the  south,  and  is  the  chief 
port  in  French  Flanders;  its  preeminence  results  from  its  near- 
ness to  England;  but  this  element  of  its  situation  has  exposed 
it  to  the  hardships  of  repeated  sieges.  Then  follows  Grave- 
lines,  just  back  of  the  dunes  at  the  mouth  of  the  Aa,  with 
St.  Omer  on  the  same  small  stream  at  the  inner  border  of  the 
maritime  plain,  30  k.  back  from  the  shore  line;  next  is  Dun- 
kirk, the  chief  port  for  the  industrial  cities  of  northernmost 
France,  but  formerly  repeatedly  fought  over,  as  in  the  Battle 
of  Dunes,  when  the  French  and  English  defeated  the  Spanish 
in  1658;  only  two  hundred  years  ago  it  was  the  resort  of  so 
many  corsairs  who  raided  shipping  that  on  the  demand  of 
the  English  its  fortifications  were  demolished  and  its  harbor 
filled  up.  The  maritime  plain  here  is  narrow:  the  belt  of 
dunes,  with  the  city  at  the  breach,  is  distant  only  12  k.  from 
the  town  of  Bergues  on  a  low  hill  at  the  inner  margin  of  the 
plain. 

The  present  residence  of  the  King  of  Belgium  is  just  across  the 
frontier  in  the  vUlage  of  La  Panne,  which  was  saved  from  conquest  in 
the  autumn  of  1914  by  opening  the  locks  at  Nieuport  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Yser,  12  k.  beyond,  and  flooding  a  tract  of  the  plain  between 
the  dunes  and  Ypres,  near  the  inner  border  of  the  maritime  plain. 
Farther  on  is  Ostend,  important  in  time  of  peace  for  its  traffic  across 
the  Channel;  then,  opposite  Bruges,  15  k.  from  the  sea  on  the  border 
of  the  inland  plain,  come  the  shore  towns  of  Blankenberghe  and 
Zeebrugge,  the  latter  used  by  the  Germans  as  a  submarine  base.  A 
few  kilometers  farther  on  beyond  the  border  of  Belgium,  the  irregu- 
lar estuarine  coast  of  Holland  gives  access  to  the  interior;  there, 
65  k.  inland  from  the  outer  coast  Ues  the  great  Belgian  port  of  Ant- 


THE  PEOPLE  OF  FLANDERS  149 

werp  {Anvers)  on  the  Schelde;  this  city,  although  held  by  the  Ger- 
mans, does  not  give  them  lawful  outlet  to  the  sea,  because  the 
na\'igable  waters  below  the  city  are  in  Dutch  territory.  Farther  on 
beyond  the  mouths  of  the  Rhine,  Rotterdam  is  a  leading  Dutch 
port,  25  k.  inland  on  a  dredged  waterway.  Then  the  continuous 
coast  begins  again,  with  its  long  line  of  dunes  back  of  the  beach, 
and  back  of  the  dunes  a  broad  repetition  of  the  maritime  plain  of 
Flanders  in  the  "  polders  "  of  Holland  as  far  as  the  shallow  Zuj-der 
sea.  Near  the  beginning  of  the  stretch,  just  behind  the  dunes,  lies 
The  Hague  (French,  La  Haye;  Dutch,  ' s-Gravenhage) ,  now  famous 
as  the  seat  of  the  international  Peace  Court. 

The  People  of  Flaiiders.  Although  the  plain  of  Flanders  is 
today  shared  along  its  length  by  France,  Belgium,  and  Holland, 
its  people  vary  more  across  its  breadth,  according  as  they  live 
on  the  inland  plain,  the  maritime  plain,  or  the  dunes,  than 
according  to  their  nationality.  The  infertility  of  the  sandy  in- 
land plain  has  been  overcome  by  the  persistent  industry  of  its 
hard-working  population;  farther  in  the  interior,  the  surface  is 
higher  and  undulating  with  a  better  soil;  there  the  population 
is  denser  and  more  prosperous.  The  maritime  plain  has  on  the 
other  hand  a  rich  soil,  the  cultivation  of  wliich  well  repays  the 
labor  that  it  demands :  the  plain  is  therefore  closely  dotted  over  with 
the  buildings  of  well-to-do  farmers,  whose  dwellings  are  erected  on 
artificial  mounds  a  meter  or  more  in  height,  with  stables  and  sheds 
around  them;  the  laborers  live  in  villages,  above  which  the  church 
towers  form  the  only  landmarks.  The  people  of  the  dunes  are  fisher- 
men, sea-farers,  or  tradesmen,  gathered  in  villages  and  cities  at 
stream  mouths;  here  the  population  is  gl-eatly  increased  in  summer 
time  by  seashore  visitors.  ' 

63.  The  War  Front  in  Flanders.  Military  operations  on  the 
rnaritinie  plain  of  Flanders  and  on  the  inland  plains  of  north- 
errnnost  France  have  been  hampered  by  the  presence  of 
ground  water  at  a  small  depth  beneath  the  surface,  so  that 
trenches  are  soon  transformed  into  muddy  ditches.  Besides 
this,  the  whole  surface  of  the  plains  becomes  waterlogged  in 
wet  weather,  making  movement  acro.ss  the  fields  almost  im- 


150         LOWLANDS  OF  FRANCE  AND  BELGIUM 

possible.  Thus  the  advance  made  by  British  and  French 
troops  across  the  maritime  plain  to  the  low  hills  on  the  border 
of  the  inland  plain  in  August,  1917,  was  halted  more  by  a 
heavy  rain  than  by  the  resistance  of  the  opposing  forces.  The 
difficulty  of  movement  here  operates  against  both  armies. 

The  Germans  have  not  succeeded  in  reaching  Dunkirk  and  Calais, 
manifest  objectives  of  great  value  as  bases  to  prevent  the  transporta- 
tion of  British  troops  and  supplies  across  the  narrow  Channel;  the 
Allies  have  not  yet  reached  the  equally  manifest  objectives  of  Ostend 
and  Zeebrugge,  the  possession  of  which  would  prevent  the  use  of  the 
harbors  of  the  Belgian  coast  as  bases  for  German  submarines;  for 
be  it  remembered  that,  as  noted  above,  the  Belgian  port  of  Antwerp 
has  access  to  the  sea  only  through  a  waterway  that  lies  in  Dutch 
territory. 

Of  the  two  pairs  of  objectives,  the  second  would  appear  to  be  the 
more  difficult  to  maintain  after  gaining  it;  for  until  the  Germans  are 
driven  altogether  out  of  western  Belgium,  the  attainment  of  Ostend 
and  Zeebrugge  would  give  the  Allies  only  a  low  and  narrow  coastal 
belt,  the  occupation  of  which  would  be  as  difficult  as  that  of  the  pro- 
verbially unfavorable  position  "  between  the  devil  and  the  deep 
sea."  The  extreme  flatness  of  the  maritime  plain  and  the  inland 
plains  of  the  Lys  and  the  Escaut  tends  to  emphasize  the  strategic 
value  of  the  low  hills  by  which  they  are  bordered :  hence  the  neces- 
sity of  dislodging  the  Germans  from  the  semi-circle  of  hills  east  of 
Ypres,  which  the  British  forces  gained  in  the  summer  and  autumn  of 
1917;  hence  again  where  the  chalk  uplands  on  the  south  overlook 
the  plain  of  the  Lys,  a  desperate  battle  was  waged  for  the  possession 
of  the  outlying  Vimy  ridge,  north  of  Arras  and  overlooking,  though 
only  from  its  moderate  height  of  124  m.,  the  lowland  occupied  by 
Lens,  an  important  coal-mining  center.  The  occupation  of  this  rich 
mining  and  manufacturing  region  by  the  Germans  since  an  early 
stage  of  the  war  has  been  a  heavy  loss  to  France. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

REGIONS  NORTH  AND  NORTHEAST  OF  FRANCE 

64.  The  Ardennes  anr/  Beyond.  The  uplands  and  highlands 
of  southeastern  Belgium,  with  small  adjoining  areas  of  France 
and  Luxembourg  and  a  larger  area  of  western  Germany,  are 
known  in  their  higher  part  as  the  Ardennes  (see  map,  p.  153). 
Their  total  area  roughly  resembles  a  half-moon,  measuring 
180  k.  east-northeastward  along  the  diametral  side,  which  is 
followed  for  much  of  its  length  by  the  Sambre-Meuse  valley, 
and  80  k.  across  (southward)  to  the  convex  margin;  the 
greater  altitudes  are  from  400  to  580  m.  If  this  region  is  ap- 
proached from  the  south,  between  the  Meuse  and  the  Luxem- 
bourg frontier,  ascent  is  soon  made  from  the  overlapping 
strata  of  the  sixth  upland  belt  of  northeastern  France,  as 
described  in  section  35,  to  the  highland  of  the  Ardennes 
proper;  on  the  west,  where  the  ascent  is  more  gradual,  the 
U)wer  slope  is  overlapped  by  the  northern  extension  of  the 
clialk  uplands  of  northern  France,  as  described  in  section  46. 

The  gradual  northwestward  descent  of  the  Ardennes  to  the 
Sambre-Meuse  valley  is  continued  bej'ond  it  by  the  uplands 
of  central  Belgium;  and  these  slope  down  to  the  lowlands  of 
the  coast  and  of  the  estuarine  district  of  Holland.  The  north- 
eastern part  of  the  highland  area  declines  through  uplands  to 
the  lowlands  of  the  Rhine  west  of  Cologne.  To  the  east,  the 
Ardennes  are  adjoined  by  the  Eifel  highlands  of  western  Ger- 
many; farther  south  the  Ardennes  are  separated  from  the 
Ifunsruck  section  of  the  Slate-mountain  liighlands  {Schie- 

161 


152    NORTH  AND  NORTHEAST  OF  FRANCE 

fergebirge)  of  western  Germany  by  the  Luxembourg  embay- 
ment  of  less  altitude,  into  which  the  strata  of  the  sixth  and 
seventh  upland  belts  of  eastern  France  enter  northeastward 
in  tabular  masses,  as  will  be  described  in  section  71. 

The  most  striking  feature  of  the  Ardennes  is  the  general  evenness 
of  their  high-standing  areas,  which  are  sometimes  so  flat  as  to  be 
boggy  in  spite  of  their  altitude.  The  next  most  striking  feature  is 
the  irregular  course  of  the  deep  and  narrow  valleys  by  which  the  high- 
lands are  trenched.  No  account  need  here  be  taken  of  rock  structure, 
partly  because  it  is  very  complicated,  more  because  the  different 
rock  masses,  steeply  inclined  as  a  rule,  are  truncated  without  regard 
to  their  composition  or  attitude  by  the  highland  surface,  and  be- 
cause the  valleys  very  generally  follow  courses  that  pay  no  heed  to 
the  rock-formation  boundaries.  It  is  only  by  way  of  exception,  and 
chiefly  in  the  area  near  the  mid-northern  boundary  of  the  region, 
that  the  upland  ridges  and  the  valleys  between  them  show  a  relation 
to  the  northeast-southwest  trends  of  the  stronger  and  weaker 
structural  belts. 

Some  of  the  valleys,  especially  in  the  less  elevated  uplands,  are 
open  enough  for  easy  occupation;  others,  especially  in  the  highlands, 
are  narrow  and  steep-sided.  Many  of  the  rivers  are  extraordinarily 
serpentine;  such  is  most  conspicuously  the  case  with  the  Semois, 
which  flows  westward  in  the  southern  slope  of  the  highland  (see 
diagram,  p.  81),  and  to  a  smaller  degree  with  the  Lesse,  which  flows 
westward  from  the  central  highland  area;  both  of  these  rivers  flow 
into  the  north-flowing  Meuse  in  its  narrow,  gorge-like  valley,  which 
is  also  sinuous,  though  not  to  so  remarkable  a  degree  as  that  of  the 
Semois.  Further  east,  the  Ourthe  and  its  main  branches,  the  Am- 
bl^ve  and  Vesdre,  surprisingly  sinuous  in  much  of  their  course,  drain 
a  large  highland  area  northward  to  the  second  elbow  of  the  Meuse 
at  Li^ge,  where  it  turns  north  toward  Holland. 

In  the  higher  and  sharply  incised  districts,  the  valley  sides  are 
wholly  abandoned  to  forest  growth,  although  parts  of  the  highlands 
themselves  are  cleared  and  cultivated:  thus  the  town  of  Rocroi 
(390  m.)  stands  in  the  midst  of  a  farming  district  on  the  upland  west 
of  the  Meuse  gorge;  its  church  tower  may  be  seen  from  the  high- 


THE  ARDENNES 


153 


OD 


9 


o 

z 
o 

o 

H 


154  NORTH  AND  NORTHEAST  OF  FRANCE 

lands  miles  away  to  the  east,  rising  over  the  even  skyline,  with  the 
deep  gorge  of  the  Meuse  hardly  perceptible  in  the  middle  distance. 
Although  the  region  is  by  no  means  mountainous,  and  although 
movement  is  easy  upon  the  highlands  between  the  valleys,  the 
Ardennes  are  difficult  to  traverse  because  of  the  deep,  narrow,  and 
sinuous  valleys  by  which  they  are  trenched.  Together  with  the 
Slate-mountain  highlands  to  the  east,  they  separate  the  path  of  the 
German  invasion  of  1870  from  the  path  of  the  invasion  of  1914  by  a 
distance  of  250  k. 

65.  The  Gorge  of  the  Meuse.  The  narrow  and  winding  gorge 
of  the  Meuse  is  the  only  cross-cut  by  which  the  traverse  of  the 
Ardennes  highlands  can  be  avoided.  It  would  be  called  a 
canyon  in  the  western  United  States.  Its  situation  is  peculiar, 
for  the  river  in  adopting  its  course  through  the  high  ground 
instead  of  running  westward  around  it  seems  to  have  defied 
the  general  rule  that  water  runs  down  hill.  In  explanation  of 
this  peculiarity  it  may  be  confidently  believed  that  the  course 
of  the  river  was  adopted  antecedent  to  the  upheaval  of  the 
highland,  when  the  Ardennes  area  was  lower  than  the  basin 
of  the  upper  Meuse  in  northeastern  France;  further,  that  the 
upheaval  of  the  highland  was  so  slow  that  it  did  not  suffice  to 
turn  the  river  out  of  its  antecedent  course :  the  river  cut  down 
its  gorge  about  as  fast  as  the  highland  was  upheaved.  Rivers 
of  this  kind  have  been  aptly  compared  to  a  handsaw  in  a 
lumber  mill;  the  saw  holds  its  place  while  ripping  its  way 
through  a  log  that  is  pushed  against  it. 

The  gorge  of  the  Meuse  is  occupied,  in  spite  of  its  narrow- 
ness, by  several  towns  which  take  advantage  of  local  widen- 
ings  of  its  floor:  thus  Revin,  Fumay,  and  Givet  lie  within 
French  territory,  and  Dinant  in  Belgian.  The  adjoining  cities 
of  M^zieres  and  Charleville  have  already  been  mentioned  as 
lying  in  the  open  country  to  the  south  on  the  loops  of  the  river 
before  it  enters  the  gorge;   and  Namur  as  marking  the  exit 


CENTRAL  BELGIUM  155 

elbow,  where  the  Aleuse  is  joined  by  the  Sambre  from  the 
west:  this  river  also  follows  an  incised  meandering  valley, 
but  its  depth  is  much  less  than  that  of  the  Meuse  gorge. 

It  was  in  the  salient  angle  limited  by  the  gorge  of  the  Meuse  on  the 
east  and  the  valley  of  the  Sambre  on  the  north,  with  the  fortified  city 
of  Namur  at  its  apex,  that  the  French  Fourth  Army  and  the  British 
Expeditionary  Force  attempted  to  check  the  German  advance  in 
August,  1914;  but  Namur  was  soon  captured  and  the  Germans, 
sweeping  westward  over  the  more  open  country  north  of  the  Sambre, 
threatened  the  British  so  seriouslj'  that  the  AUied  forces  were  com- 
pelled to  begin  a  retreat  that  was  not  stopped  until  the  battle  of  the 
Marne  was  fought,  a  fortnight  later,  ISO  k.  to  the  south. 

An  important  railway  runs  with  the  Meuse  through  the 
Ardennes;  but  as  it  is  dominated  by  the  adjoining  uplands, 
which  for  half  the  length  of  the  river  gorge  lie  in  a  north- 
ward loop  of  the  French  frontier,  and  as  the  fortress  of 
Mezieres  lies  near  the  gorge  entrance,  this  railway  was  not 
used  by  the  Germans  for  the  transportation  of  troops  until 
after  their  army  had  passed  around  the  western  end  of  the 
highland  area,  and  the  retreat  of  the  Allies  had  left  the 
Ardennes  open  to  enemy  occupation. 

G6.  The  Uplands  of  Central  Belgium  decline  slowly  from  the 
Sambre-Meuse  valley  toward  the  coast  and  the  lowlands  of 
Holland;  they  are  underlaid  by  the  chalk  and  younger  strata 
which  have  wrapped  around  into  Belgium  from  the  broad 
northwestern  saddle  of  the  Paris  basin.  The  upland  surface 
is  worn  down  in  wide-spaced,  irregularly  branching  valleys, 
whereby  it  becomes  broadly  undulating:  it  is  everywhere 
(jpen  to  easy  movement  and  the  greater  part  of  it  is  rich  agri- 
cultural land,  supporting  a  large  population.  A  less  produc- 
tive sandy  strip  slopes  gradually  to  the  maritime  plain  of 
Flanders,  as  described  in  section  60. 


156  NORTH  AND  NORTHEAST  OF  FRANCE 

The  valley  of  the  Sambre-Meuse  along  the  northern  base  of  the 
upland  and  highland  area  here  considered  is  unlike  the  winding  val- 
leys within  the  highlands,  in  that  it  follows  in  a  general  way  an  almost 
rectilinear  east-northeast  course,  due  to  the  structural  guidance  of 
certain  steeply  inclined  weak  strata  in  the  long  and  narrow  belt  of  the 
Belgian  coal  basin.  The  coal  basin,  if  followed  southwest,  leaves  the 
upper  Sambre  valley  and  turns  westward  under  younger  covering 
strata  into  northern  France,  as  stated  in  section  60;  in  the  opposite 
direction  beyond  the  northward  turn  of  the  Meuse  valley  at  Liege,  it 
extends  northeastward  into  western  Germany;  farther  on  in  the 
same  direction  and  across  the  Rhine  lie  the  great  industrial  dis- 
tricts centering  at  Essen,  the  seat  of  the  Krupp  works  in  Rhineland, 
and  at  Dortmund  in  Westphalia. 

In  the  districts  where  the  coal  beds  are  most  actively  exploited, 
as  in  the  western  part  of  the  Belgian  field,  the  mining  villages  are 
connected  by  a  network  of  railways.  The  coal-bearing  belt  is  oc- 
cupied or  adjoined  by  many  industrial  cities;  Valenciennes,  Douai, 
and  Lens  in  France  have  already  been  mentioned :  Mons,  Charleroi, 
Namur,  le  Huy,  and  Liege  (German,  Lilttich)  lie  in  Belgium,  and 
Aix-la-Chapelle  (German,  Aachen)  is  in  Germany.  Hence  on  round- 
ing the  western  slope  of  the  Ardennes,  the  Germans  not  only  made 
entrance  into  the  open  country  of  northern  France,  but  took  posses- 
sion of  a  highly  productive  industrial  region  on  the  way,  which  they 
have  since  worked  to  their  own  advantage. 

The  uplands  and  lowlands  of  northern  Belgium  are  drained 
chiefly  by  the  Escaut  (Schelde)  and  its  branches,  of  which  the 
chief  are  the  Senne  and  the  Dyle  (see  map,  p.  10);  on  these 
two  streams  lie  Brussels  (French,  Bruxelles;  German,  Brils- 
sel)  and  Louvain  (German,  L&wen),  about  half  way  from 
Charleroi  and  Namur  to  Antwerp  (French,  Anvers;  German, 
Antwerpen),  the  chief  Belgium  port,  where  the  Schelde  widens 
as  an  estuary.  This  region  has  been  repeatedly  fought  over 
in  earlier  centuries :  Waterloo,  the  most  famous  battlefield  of 
the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  lies  on  the  upland  15  k. 
south  of  Brussels. 


THE  LORRAINE  PLATEAU  157 

It  should  be  remembered  that  a  southward  arm  of  Holland,  in- 
cluding the  city  of  Maastricht  (H,  Fig.  13),  extends  along  the 
Meuse  (Maas)  and  brings  the  Dutch  frontier  to  within  15  k.  of  the 
northern  border  of  the  Ardennes,  where  the  highland  slope  is  deeply 
dissected  by  the  Ourthc  and  its  sinuous  branches:  hence  the  German 
invasion  of  Belgium  was  confined  to  this  narrow  space.  There  at  the 
elbow  of  the  Meuse  lies  Li^ge,  which  consequently  had  to  bear  the 
brunt  of  the  first  attack. 

67.  The  Lorraine  Plateau  and  the  Adjacent  Districts  of  Ger- 
viany.  The  upland  saddle  that  spreads  eastward  from  the 
Paris  basin  between  the  highlands  of  the  Vosges  and  the 
Ardennes  passes  from  the  part  of  the  old  province  of  Lor- 
raine which  is  still  retained  by  France  to  the  part  wdiich, 
under  the  name  of  Lothringen,  has  been  German  territory 
since  1871,  and  beyond  (see  map,  p.  54).  It  is  an  upland 
area,  rather  sharply  incised  by  many  irregularly  branching 
valleys.  Along  its  northern  border  is  a  belt  of  hillls,  30  or 
40  k.  in  breadth  and  100  k.  in  length,  and  beyond  these 
rises  the  Hunsriick  section  of  the  Slate  Mountains.  The 
eastern  border  of  the  plateau  falls  off  to  the  lowland  plain  of 
the  middle  Rhine  by  a  well-defined  escarpment,  due  to  a  dis- 
placement on  a  profound  fracture  of  the  earth's  crust.  The 
name,  Vosges,  is  sometimes  extended  to  a  southeastern  part 
of  the  upland,  from  350  to  450  m.  in  height,  overlooking  the 
Rhine  plain,  next  north  of  the  highlands  of  the  Vosges  proper: 
farther  north,  a  more  elevated  forested  area  (570  m.)  along 
the  border  of  the  upland,  which  there  advances  further  east- 
ward, is  known  as  the  Hardt  (or  Haardt),  in  the  political 
[)rovince  of  Pfalz. 

'^rhe  less  elevated  upland,  lying  west  of  the  Hardt  and 
including  the  hilly  belt. south  of  Hunsriick  highland,  will  here 
he  describ(.'d  with  the  Lorraine  plat(!au.  The  chief  rivers  of 
the  plateau  are  the  Moselle  (German,  Mosel)  which  crosses 


158    NORTH  AND  NORTHEAST  OF  FRANCE 


Coblentz 


Luneville 


Fia.  45.    The  Lorraine  Plateau,  the  Hardt,  and  the  Hunsruck 


THE  LORIL\INE  PLATEAU  159 

its  northwestern  part,  and  the  Sarre  (German,  Saar),  which 
rises  in  the  \'osges  and  flows  north-northwest  across  the 
plateau  to  the  Moselle.  These  rivers  and  their  branches  flow 
in  valleys  that  are  well  incised  below  the  upland  level;  more 
is  told  of  them  below.  An  upland  area,  associated  with  the 
Lorraine  plateau  and  covered  by  a  long  lobe  of  the  lime- 
stones of  the  seventh  and  sLxth  upland  belts,  extends  north- 
ward between  the  Hunsriick  and  the  Ardennes  west  of  the 
Moselle,  and  will  be  described  below  under  the  name  of 
Luxembourg  embayment;  the  hilly  belt  next  south  of  the 
Hunsriick,  occupied  by  tilted  ancient  rocks  and  drained  by 
the  Xahe  and  the  Glan,  will  also  be  treated  on  a  later  page. 

The  eastward  view  of  the  Lorraine  plateau  from  the  de- 
tached portions  —  the  Grand  Couronne  —  of  the  fifth  up- 
land belt  (400  m.)  on  the  French  side  of  the  frontier  near 
Nancy,  or  from  the  bold  scarp  of  the  same  belt  (350  m.)  on 
the  German  side  of  the  frontier  near  Metz  (see  map,  p.  60), 
discloses  an  undulating  landscape  (300  to  350  m.)  stretching 
60  or  80  k.  eastward.  In  the  foreground  of  the  view  from  near 
Xancy  the  irregular  tabular  extension  (350  m.)  of  the  sixth 
ui)land  belt  may  be  distinguished  where  the  frontier  follows 
the  meandering  vallc}'  of  the  Seille,  a  tributarj^  of  the  Moselle, 
for  some  30  k.;  one  of  the  tabular  mas.ses  stretches  20  k. 
northeastward  into  German  territory  in  a  long  promontory- 
like forested  spur  (330  m.)  surmounting  the  rolling  upland 
Ity  about  100  m.;  part  of  it  is  shown  on  the  detailed  map, 
page  161. 

In  the  foreground  of  the  eastward  view  from  above  Metz, 
the  sixth  upland  bolt  is  of  more  normal  form;  its  moderately 
scalloped  scarp  (310  m.),  here  lying  some  20  k.  east  of  the  (ifth 
upland  belt,  luay  be  traced  northward  for  80  k.  The  rolling 
lower  land  east  of  the  scalloped  scarp  is  drained  northward  by 


160 


NORTH  AND  NORTHEAST  OF  FRANCE 


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Fig.  46.     A  Fobestbd  Spur  of  the  Sixth  Upland 


A  SPUR  OF  THE  SIXTH  UPLAND 


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162  NORTH  AND  NORTHEAST  OF  FRANCE 

the  French  Nied,  so-called  to  distinguish  it  from  a  more 
eastern  branch,  the  German  Nied,  of  the  same  trunk  stream, 
the  Nied,  which  runs  northward  to  the  Sarre. 

68.  Southern  Part  of  the  Lorraine  Plateau.  If  the  southern 
part  of  the  plateau  is  now  crossed  eastward,  a  view  from  any 
one  of  its  many  broadly  rounded  hills  between  the  valleys 
of  the  Seille,  the  Sanon,  the  upper  Sarre  and  their  ramifying 
head-waters,  shows  a  gently  undulating  skyline  in  which 
all  the  other  hill  crests  unite.  The  skyline  thus  represents 
the  upper  surface  of  the  broadly  extended  limestones  that 
determine  the  seventh  upland  belt,  the  southern  part  of  which 
has  been  described  in  section  25.  The  limestone  area  stretches 
eastward  across  the  Sarre  and  ends  in  an  irregular  margin 
(350-400  m.),  overlapping  upon  the  underlying  sandstones 
which  rise  southeastward  in  the  mountainous  hills  of  the 
Vosges;  the  same  sandstones  also  extend  eastward  with  small 
increase  of  altitude  for  15  or  20  k.  to  the  scarp  where  the  up- 
land that  they  maintain  descends  abruptly  to  the  Rhine  val- 
ley. The  soil  of  the  limestone  uplands  is  fertile  and  forests  are 
of  restricted  area  upon  them ;  the  sandstones  have  an  infertile 
soil  and  are  largely  forested. 

The  main  lines  of  travel  and  transportation — road,  canal,  and 
railway  —  eastward  from  Paris  and  Nancy  pass  across  the  southern 
part  of  the  Lorraine  plateau,  next  to  its  ascent  into  the  higher  Vosges, 
on  the  way  to  Strasbourg,  the  chief  city  of  Alsace  in  the  Rhine  valley- 
plain,  and  beyond.  The  national  road  is  literally  a  highway  east  of 
Nancy,  for  though  it  must  descend  in  crossing  the  middle  course  of 
the  Seille  near  the  frontier  and  headwaters  of  the  Sarre  farther  east, 
it  avoids  the  valleys  as  far  as  possible  and  follows  the  broadly  arched 
hill  crests  of  the  limestone  area;  continuing,  it  reaches  the  very  ex- 
tremity of  a  sandstone  spur,  428  m.  in  altitude,  directly  overlooking 
the  lowland  of  the  Rhine,  to  which  it  descends  in  zigzags  at  the 
mouth  of  the  short  valley  drained  by  the  Zorn.    The  canal  lies  more 


R.\ILWAY  ACROSS  SOUTHERN  LORRAINE       163 

to  the  south  and  follows  the  valleys:  it  first  ascends  the  Sanon,  a 
branch  of  the  Meurthe,  bej'ond  the  frontier;  then  crosses  the  divide 
to  the  upper  valleys  of  the  Sarre  and  winds  around  the  hills  that 
enclose  them;  here  a  branch  canal  turns  north  down  the  Sarre;  the 
main  canal  then  tunnels  2  k.  under  the  next  divide,  and  descends 
through  many  locks  100  m.  in  13  k.  along  the  valley  of  the  Zorn  to 
the  Rhine  lowland.  Some  of  the  valley  heads  near  the  upper  Sarre 
are  occupied  by  canal  reservoirs,  3  or  4  k.  in  length,  which  branch 
into  smaller  side  valleys  above  their  dams.  These  small  water  bodies 
and  the  canals  that  they  serve  are  the  chief  barriers  to  movement 
hereabouts. 

The  main  line  of  the  Eastern  railway,  after  making  a  southward 
detour  from  Nancy  to  Lundville  on  the  Meurthe,  turns  up  the 
\'^zouse  through  the  open  country  west  of  the  Vosgcs  (see  section 
25),  but  soon  leaves  the  stream,  crosses  the  frontier  midway  between 
the  V^zouse  and  the  Sanon  (see  the  detailed  map,  pp.  60-61),  and 
then  crosses  the  upper  Sarre  and  tunnels  the  divide  alongside  of  the 
canal  to  the  Zorn  valley.  All  three  lines  unite  below  the  escarpment 
at  Saverne  (German,  Zabcrn)  on  the  Zorn,  a  town  that  became  no- 
torious from  a  typical  militaristic  incident,  the  affront  of  a  civilian 
by  an  arm\'  officer,  the  year  before  the  war;  it  was  in  this  case  that 
the  decision  of  a  civil  court  was  reversed  b}'  the  militarj'  authorities. 

69.  Northern  Part  of  the  Lorraine  Plateau.  A  traverse  of  the 
northern  part  of  the  Lorraine  plateau  discovers  a  greater 
variety  of  relief  than  that  of  the  southern  part,  for  the  valleys 
of  the  Sarre  and  its  branches  are  here  more  deeply  eroded; 
moreover,  the  foundation  rocks,  which  occupy  the  hilly  belt 
farther  northeast  and  the  highlands  of  the  Hunsriick  and  the 
Eifel,  are  here  first  seen  in  an  area  on  the  Sarre  where  the 
covering  limestones  and  sandstones  of  the  Lorruini;  saddle 
have  been  worn  away.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  along  the 
course  of  this  river  seven  towns  embody  its  name  in  theirs,  the 
first  and  last  being  essentially  the  same. 

Around  this  area  of  the  foundation  rocks,  the  limestones 
of  the  seventh  upland  belt,  overlying  the  basal  sandstones, 


164  NORTH  AND  NORTHEAST  OF  FRANCE 

appear  in  a  well  defined  upland  rim  with  a  scalloped  scarp; 
and  within  the  rim,  among  the  deformed  foundation  rocks, 
lies  a  coal  field  (dotted  on  map,  p.  158)  named  from  the  Sarre 
(Saar)  which  flows  across  its  western  end,  and  on  which  Sarre- 
bruck  (German,  Saarhrucken)  and  Sarrelouis  (German,  Saar- 
louis)  are  important  coal -mining  centers.  The  district  is  of 
great  economic  importance,  as  it  furnishes  a  large  supply  of 
coal,  some  of  which  is  used  in  the  iron  furnaces  on  the  Moselle 
below  (north  of)  Metz,  for  smelting  the  minette  ore  from  the 
fifth  upland  belt.  This  district  is  furthermore  historically 
interesting,  as  it  was  at  Sarrebruck  on  German  territory  that 
the  first  encounter  of  the  Prussian  and  French  armies  occurred 
m  July,  1870. 

The  limestone  uplands  continue  to  the  east  of  the  coal  field 
through  a  district  known  as  Westrich,  where  they  are  drained 
by  the  Blies;  their  greatest  altitude  (450  m.)  is  reached  about 
50  k.  northeast  of  the  Sarre,  where  their  margin  is  extremely 
irregular  with  many  outlying  patches.  Farther  on,  the  under- 
lying sandstones  yield  an  infertile  soil  and  are  generally  for- 
ested; here  the  upland  gradually  rises  to  the  Hardt  (500  to 
600  m.);  the  scarped  border  of  the  upland  lies  some  30  k. 
beyond  the  outlying  patches  of  the  limestones,  and  as  it 
trends  northeastward,  it  here  stands  from  30  to  50  k.  farther 
east  than  the  upland  border  near  Saverne.  Both  the  lime- 
stone and  the  sandstone  uplands  are  deeply  cut  by  many 
irregular  and  close-set  valleys,  making  the  district  difficult  to 
traverse.  The  chief  towns  of  the  limestone  area  are  Sarre- 
guemines  (German,  Saargemilnd)  and  Zweibriicken.  Pir- 
masens  and  Kaiserslautern  lie  on  the  adjoining  sandstone 
area. 

The  boundary  between  France  and  Germany  before  the  war  of 
1870  crossed  this  region  in  an  irregular  eastward  course  from  a  sharp 


THE  HUNSRtlCK  165 

bend  of  the  Moselle,  marked  by  the  town  of  Sierck  about  10  k.  below 
its  emergence  from  the  sixth  upland  belt  (see  map,  p.  67),  to 
the  Rhine  lowland.  It  passed  south  of  the  Sarre  coal  field  along  the 
Sarre  and  the  Blies  through  the  Westrich  district,  and  across  the 
southern  part  of  the  Hardt;  it  then  descended  to  the  broad  valley 
lowland  a  little  north  of  a  southward  salient  or  prong  in  the  marginal 
scarp,  known  as  Hochwald,  and  followed  the  Lauter  to  the  Rhine: 
Wissembourg  (German,  Weissenburg)  lies  at  the  base  of  the  scarp 
next  south  of  the  line.  The  boundary  between  Lorraine  and  Alsace 
ran  southward  along  the  scarp  into  the  Vosges. 

The  Hilly  Belt  south  of  the  Himsriick.  To  the  north  and 
northeast  of  the  Sarre  coal  field,  the  foundation  rocks  there 
exposed  constitute  an  irregularly  hilly  district  of  unsystem- 
atic form,  except  that  occasional  ridges  manifest  a  north- 
east-southwest trend  in  accordance  with  the  trend  of  the 
tilted  belts  of  resistant  rocks  that  determine  them.  The 
general  altitude  of  the  hills  is  from  350  to  550  m.  Near  the 
eastern  end  of  the  area,  a  mass  of  extra-resistant  igneous 
rocks  rises  in  the  Donnersberg  to  687  m.  A  small  part  of  the 
area  is  drained  westward  by  the  Prims  to  the  Sarre;  the 
larger  part  is  drained  by  the  Glan  and  Nahe  to  the  Rhine  at 
Bingen.  Tiie  lowland  of  the  Rhine,  east  of  the  upland  scarp, 
is  of  low  relief,  and  densely  populated.  The  important  cities 
of  Karlsruhe,  Speyer,  Mannheim,  Worms,  and  Mainz  lie  on 
or  near  the  river. 

70.  The  Hunsrilck.  A  gradual  northward  increase  of  alti- 
tude leads  from  the  Lorraine  plateau  to  the  Slate-mountain 
highlands  of  western  Germany.  The  highlands  are  divided 
into  four  suboqual  parts  by  the  gorge  of  the  Rhine,  trending 
northwest,  and  by  the  gorges  of  its  opposing  tributaries,  the 
Moselle  from  the  southwest  and  the  Lahn  from  the  north- 
east. The  .southern  part  is  known  as  the  Hunsriick,  tlie 
western  part  as  the  Eifel. 


166    NORTH  AND  NORTHEAST  OF  FRANCE 

The  Hunsriick  is  a  rolling  highland,  measuring  100  k.  par- 
allel to  the  Moselle,  and  40  k.  in  a  transverse  direction;  its 
general  altitude  is  from  450  to  500  m.;  but  it  is  surmounted 
by  several  linear  forest-clad  ridges  known  as  the  Hochwald, 
Idarwald,  and  Soonwald,  trending  northeast-southwest,  and 
reaching  heights  of  from  600  to  800  m.;  and  it  is  deeply  cut 
by  narrow  steep-sided  valleys  around  its  borders  toward  the 
Sarre  which  flows  to  the  Moselle  on  the  southwest,  the  Moselle 
on  the  northwest,  the  Rhine  on  the  northeast,  and  the  Nahe 
which  flows  to  the  Rhine  on  the  southeast.  The  undulating 
highland  surface,  away  from  the  surmounting  ridges  and  back 
of  the  marginal  valleys,  is  cleared  and  cultivated,  and  is  the 
seat  of  many  quiet,  out-of-the-way  villages.  All  the  border- 
ing valleys  are  followed  byroads  and  railways;  the  highland 
is  traversed  chiefly  by  roads. 

71.  The  Luxembourg  Embayment.  The  Eif el  resembles  the 
Hunsriick  in  being  a  rolling  agricultural  highland,  sharply 
dissected  by  deep-cut  and  frequently  meandering  valleys 
around  its  margin;  but  it  has  few  surmounting  eminences. 
It  is  confluent  westward  with  Ardennes,  except  that  on  the 
south  the  two  highlands  are  separated  by  the  somewhat  lower 
uplands  of  the  Luxembourg  embayment.  This  embayment 
is  structurally  similar  to  that  by  which  the  limestone  strata 
of  the  seventh  upland  belt  are  led  from  the  Lorraine  plateau 
to  the  Hardt;  but  here  two  upland  belts,  the  sixth  nested  in 
the  seventh  (see  map,  p.  153),  are  led  northeastward,  and  the 
Luxembourg  embayment  is  therefore  of  more  complicated  sur- 
face form  than  the  Lorraine  plateau;  but  on  the  other  hand, 
the  troughing  of  the  strata  is  here  more  pronounced  than  in 
Lorraine,  and  the  scarped  edges  of  the  controlling  strata,  those 
of  the  sixth  belt  better  defined  than  those  of  the  seventh,  have 
more  regular  trends.     Their  description  would  therefore  be 


THE  LUXEMBOURG  EMBAYMENT  167 

comparatively  simple,  were  it  not  that  they  are  obliquely  cut 
across  by  the  deep  and  winding  valley's  of  certain  northern 
tributaries  of  the  ]\Ioselle;  as  a  result  the  verbal  description 
of  the  separate  members  into  which  the  upland  belts  are 
divided  can  haMly  be  attempted  here. 

A  brief  statement  must  suffice.  Let  it  first  be  understood  that 
the  sixth  upland  belt  trends  about  parallel  with  the  northward  course 
of  the  fifth  upland  belt  (see  section  32)  where  the  Moselle  flows 
between  the  two  from  Metz  to  Thionville;  but  then,  instead  of  soon 
turning  to  the  west  like  the  fifth  upland  belt  north  of  Thionville, 
the  sixth  extends  60  k.  to  the  northeast  into  the  Luxembourg  em- 
baymcnt,  from  which  it  returns  sharply  to  the  southwest  before  it 
again  parallels  the  fifth  belt,  trending  westward,  along  the  southern 
border  of  the  Ardennes,  as  shown  on  page  8L  The  slender  north- 
eastern point  of  the  sixth  belt  (350  m.)  is  divided  into  several  dis- 
tinct hills;  farther  southwest,  its  two  scarps,  one  facing  southeast 
(350  m.),  the  other  northwest  (400  m.),  are  cut  across  by  the  Sure 
(German,  Sauer)  and  several  branch  streams  which  rise  in  the 
Ardennes  and  flow  through  deep,  narrow,  and  sinuous  valleys  south- 
eastward to  the  Moselle.  P'arthcr  southwest  still,  a  long  reentrant 
i.s  cut  back  in  the  northwestern  scarp,  at  the  head  of  which  lies  the 
city  of  Luxembourg,  capital  of  the  Grand  Duchy  of  the  same  name. 
Thence,  westward,  the  sixth  belt  is  fairly  well  developed  on  the 
flanks  of  the  Ardennes,  20  or  10  k.  north  of  the  fifth;  but  its  continu- 
ity i.s  interrupted  by  the  notches  of  many  streams  flowing  southward 
from  the  highlands  to  the  Chiers  or  the  Meuse,  and  its  border  is  not 
marked  by  a  distinct  scarp,  as  section  35  has  already  made  clear. 

The  seventh  upland  belt,  less  distinct  than  the  sixth,  makes  a 
larger  and  broader  excursion  to  the  northeast:  the  apex  of  its  curve 
lies  SO  k.  northeast  of  the  turn  of  the  fifth  belt  bj^  Thionville,  and 
20  k.  bej'ond  the  extremity  of  the  several  hills  of  the  sixth;  its 
imperfectly  developed  scarps  are  turned  .southeast  toward  the  ascent 
of  the  Eifel  highlands  and  northwest  toward  the  ascent  of  the 
Ardennes  highlands:  like  the  sixth  belt  the  seventh  belt  and  the 
adjoining  highlands  al.so  are  frequently  cut  across  by  deep  valleys; 
not  only  by  those  of  the  Sure  and  its  branches,  but  also  farther  to 
the  northcaat  by  the  Kyll.    On  returning  from  the  embayment  along 


168  NORTH  AND  NORTHEAST  OF  FRANCE 

the  slope  of  the  Ardennes  the  strata  of  the  seventh  upland  belt  are 
overlapped  by  those  of  the  sixth  and  disappear:  this  foreshadows 
the  fate  that,  further  to  the  west,  overtakes  the  strata  of  the  sixth, 
fifth,  fourth,  and  third  belts  in  turn,  until  the  last  of  them  disap- 
pears under  the  northward  overlap  of  the  chalk  near  the  headwaters 
of  the  Oise  on  the  southern  slope  of  the  Ardennes  west  of  the 
Meuse,  as  shown  on  page  153. 

72.  The  Gorge  of  the  Moselle.  The  course  of  the  Moselle 
northeastward  from  Thionville,  where  it  was  left  in  section  33, 
soon  leads  it  obliquely  through  the  sixth  upland  belt,  thence 
northward  along  a  valley  that  is  incised  in  the  lower  land  east 
of  the  upland  scarp,  then  again  northeastward,  to  a  belt  of 
steeply  inclined,  weak  strata,  included  between  the  more  re- 
sistant rocks  of  the  Hunsriick  and  Eifel  highlands  on  either 
side,  and  extending  for  55  k.  northeastward  or  half  of  the 
distance  to  the  Rhine;  an  open  valley,  from  three  to  six  k.  in 
width,  has  there  been  excavated.  The  serpentine  Sarre  joins 
the  Moselle  from  the  south  as  the  open  valley  is  reached ;  the 
ancient  city  of  Treves  (German,  Trier)  lies  in  the  valley  a 
little  farther  northeast.  Singularly  enough,  although  the 
open  valley  continues  northeastward  as  far  as  its  belt  of  weak 
rocks  extends,  the  Moselle  does  not  follow  it  so  far,  but  turns 
to  the  right  and  cuts  a  gracefully  serpentine  valley  in  the 
border  of  the  Hunsriick  highlands  for  the  rest  of  its  way  to  the 
gorge  of  the  Rhine.  Through  this  part  of  its  course  it  is 
joined  by  the  many  small  streams  that  have  cut  their  steep- 
sided  valleys  in  the  margin  of  the  adjoining  highlands. 

Travel  through  this  region  is  easy,  though  somewhat  circuitous, 
along  the  main  valleys;  no  serious  obstacles  are  met  on  the  rolling 
highlands,  if  the  surmounting  ridges  and  the  incised  marginal  val- 
leys are  avoided;  even  the  ridges  may  be  ascended  or  crossed  with- 
out especial  effort,  for  their  forested  slopes,  not  over-steep,  bear 
many  paths,  and  their  crests  are  occasionally  topt  with  outlook 


TPE  GORGE  OF  THE  RHINE  169 

towers  from  which  repaying  views  are  obtained.  But  the  spurs  of  the 
liighlands,  advancing  into  the  labyrinth  of  sharply  incised  marginal 
valleys,  are  traversed  with  difficulty,  and  should  be  avoided  except 
for  the  pleasure  of  scrambling  in  a  rough  country. 

The  Gorge  of  the  Rhine,  a  famous  example  of  a  narrow,  river- 
cut  valley  across  an  uplifted  land  mass,  offers  a  striking  con- 
trast to  the  quiet  highlands  on  either  hand.  Busy  river-side 
villages  occupy  strips  of  alluvium  at  ravine  mouths  on  one 
bank  or  the  other;  terraced  vineyards  clothe  the  sunlit 
slopes;  railways  and,  for  most  of  the  gorge-length,  roads  also 
follow  both  banks.  The  river  channel  has  been  cleared  of  the 
rocks  that  here  and  there  made  its  navigation  difficult,  and 
steamboats  for  passengers  and  towboats  with  strings  of 
barges  for  freight  pass  rapidly  downstream,  or  more  slowly 
upstream.  A  view  of  the  gorge  from  an  upland  spur  shows 
it  to  be  an  artery  of  human  life,  throbbing  with  activity, 
while  the  uplands  on  either  side  are  the  abode  of  a  quiet 
rural  population.  May  this  famous  view  or  the  broader 
view  from  the  margin  of  the  Hardt  across  the  populous 
liliine  valley  further  south  be  enjoyed,  without  undue  delay, 
by  many  readers  of  these  pages! 


INDEX   OF  PEACE   NAMES 


Ahbevillo,  136. 

Apincourt,  138. 

Ailette,  116,  122. 

Aire,  96.  97,  99,  100. 

Aisne,  37.  97,  99,  100,    104,  107, 

11.-).  122. 
Aix-la-Chapclle,  156. 
Alps,  4,  7. 
Alsace,  8,  .56.  162. 
Amiens,  10,  129. 
Antwerp,  13.  148,  1.50,  152. 
Ardennes,  7,  9,  11,  80,  83,  15-,  155, 

167. 
Argonne,  51,  98,  99. 
Armorica,  23. 
Arra.«,  12,  129,  130. 
Artois,  139. 
Aube,  99,  104. 

Hapaume,  130. 

Har,  96,  97,  100. 

Har-lc-Duc,  86,  96,  98. 

Beauvais,  141. 

Belfort,  8,  9,  48,  66. 

BelRium,  6,  9,  12,  47,  80,  144,  151, 

1.54. 
I'.iesrne,  99. 

liight  of  the  Somme,  142. 
liingen,  165. 
I'.lioH,  164. 

liouloKne-.'^ur-Mcr,  7,  139,  143. 
Boiiloiinai.s,  139. 
HouiuJarics,  6. 
Iires.se,  24. 
lirie,  31,  34,  110. 
I'riey,  77. 
I'.riftanv,  22. 
l'.ruKfs,'l48. 
iinisM'l.s    1.56. 
I'urgunciy,  65. 


Caesar,  7,  66. 

Calais,  7,  139,  143,  148. 

Cambrai,  132. 

Canals,  17,  59,  87,  129,  139,  143, 

148,  162. 
Cape  Oris  Nez,  7,  133,  139. 
Cassel   145. 

Central  Highlands,  4,  5,  23,  24,  25. 
C6vennes,  4. 
Chalk,  125,  133. 
Chalk  uplands,  101,  104,  108,  124, 

135. 
Chdlons-sur-Marne,  106. 
Champagne,  103-,  110-. 
Charleville,  83,  154. 
Chateau-Thierry,  110. 
Chaunv,  129. 

Chemin  des  Dames,  122,  123. 
Chiers,  80,  82,  167. 
Clermont-cn-Argonne,  99. 
ClifTs,  141. 
Climate,  13. 
Coal,  25,  145,  1.56,  164. 
Compidgnc,  38,  117,  122. 
Cote  d'Or,  24,  65,  66. 
Cotes  de  Meuse,  85,  88. 
Craonne,  117,  123. 
Cr(5cy,  138. 
Cuesta,  44,  121. 

Dieppe,  141,  143. 
Dinaiit,  1.54. 
Donner.sberg,  165. 
Douai,  12,  25,  45,  156. 
Dunes,  142,  147- 
Duiikirk,  6,  145,  148. 
Duii-sur-Mcu.se,  96. 

Eifel,  151,  l(i5,  166. 

Knglish  Channel,  7,  139,  141. 


171 


172 


INDEX  OF  PLACE  NAMES 


Epernay,  110. 

Epinal,  9,  48,  56,  59,  62,  64. 

Escaut,  12,  128,  145,  156. 

Essen,  156. 

Etretat,  143. 

Fecamp,  143. 
Fdre,  La,  129, 130, 132. 
F6re  Champenoise,  114. 
Flanders,  7, 144. 146-. 
Fontainebleau,  30. 
Forests,  18,  37,  55,  135,  152. 
French  language,  4,  5,  170-. 
Frontier,  8,  58,  78. 
Fumay,  154. 

Ghent,  12. 
Glan,  165. 
Government,  14-. 
Grand  Couronne,  70,  159. 
Grand  Morin,  110. 
Grand  Pre,  100. 
Gravelines,  148. 

Hague,  The,  149. 

Harbors,  18,  142. 

Hardt,  25,  157,  164,  165,  166,  169. 

Hartmannswillerkopf,  55. 

Havre,  9,  138. 

Hochwald,  166. 

Holland,  13, 155, 157. 

Hunsruck,    151,    157,    158,    163, 

165-. 
Huy,  le,  156. 

Idarwald,  166. 

Ill,  55. 

Iron  ore,  25,  26,  77. 

Karlsruhe,  165. 

Lahn,  165. 
Langres,  66. 

Langres,  Plateau  of,  24,  65-. 
Language,  French,  4,  5,  170. 
Provengal,  5,  170. 
Laon,  108,  120,  123,  132. 
Lens,  156. 


Lesse,  152. 

Liege,  11,  12,  152,  156,  157. 

Lille,  12,  145. 

Loire,  10,  25. 

Longwy,  80. 

Lorraine,  9,  24,  26,  47,  64, 157, 166. 

Louvain,  156. 

Luneville,  59. 

Luxembourg,  8,  80,  151,  159,  166. 

Lys,  12,  145. 

Maastricht,  157. 

Madon,  62. 

Mainz,  165. 

Mannheim,  165. 

Maps,  18-. 

Maritime  plain,  146, 150. 

Marne,  27,  29,  49,  67,  98,  104,  106, 

110,  111,  114. 
Marne,  Battle  of  the,  34,  36,  114. 
Maubeuge,  9,  12,  48. 
Measures,  20. 
Meaux,  32,  36,  110,  114. 
Metz,  9,  26,  73,  76,  77,  89,  159, 

167. 
Meurthe,  11,  56,  58,  63,  72. 
Meuse,  11,  12,  25,  50,  68,  72,  83, 

85,  87,  92,  151,  153,  154,  156, 

167. 
M^zieres,  9,  12,  48,  83. 
Mirecourt,  63. 
Money,  20. 
Mons,  12,  156. 
Montm^dy,  82. 
Monts  Faucilles,  62. 
MoronvilUers,  107. 
Moselle,  11,  25,  56,  63,  68,  72,  76, 

85,  87,  157,  165,  166,  167,  168. 
Mouzon,  82. 
Mt.  Blanc,  7. 

Nahe,  165,  166. 
Namur,  12,  154,  156. 
Nancy,  11,  70,  71,  159. 
Nantes,  11. 
Neufchateau,  68,  85. 
Neufchatel,  138,  141. 
Nied,  162. 


INDEX  OF  PLACE  NAMES 


173 


Nieuport,  148. 
Norniandv,  24,  133. 
Noyon,  122,  129,  130,  132. 

Oise,  29-,  37,  105,  117,  124,  141. 

Ornain,  So,  98. 

Orne,  73,  77. 

Ostend,  148. 

Ourcq,  29,37,  114. 

Ourthe,  152,  157. 

Paris,  5,  13,  27,  31,  36,  38-. 
Paris  basin,  22,  27,  43,  125. 
Pays  de  Brav,  138.  140. 
P6ronne,  129,  130,  132. 
Petit  Morin,  110. 
Picardy,  24,  133 
Pont-^-Slousson,  76,  77. 
Prims,  165. 
Provengal,  5,  170. 
Provenco,  4. 
PuMic  Work.s,  16-. 

Railways,  17,  41,  59,  66,  84,  85,  86, 

92,  136,  138,  154,  162. 
Rainfall,  14. 
Rethel,  107. 
Kevin,  154. 

Rheims,  10,  107,  111,  122. 
Rhine,  52,  157,  165,  166,  168,  169. 
Rivers  Q~. 
Roads,'  le',  53,  82,  101,  107,  128, 

135,  136,  145,  162. 
Rotterdam,  149. 
Koubaix,  145. 
Rouen,  9,  137,  138. 
Pvove,  130,  132. 
Rupt  de  Mad,  73,  77,  88,  89. 

Saddles  of  Pari.s  l)a,sin,  24. 
Sambre,  12,  151,  155,  156. 
Sanon,  58,  64,  152. 
Sarre,  64,  157,  162,  163,  164,  166, 

168. 
Sarrebruck,  164. 
SarreKucmines,  104. 
Savcnic,  163. 
Scarpe,  128,  129,  145. 


Sedan,  83. 

Seille,  58,  64,  76,  159,  162. 

Seine,  9,  25,  27,  30,  87,  133,  135, 

137. 
Semois,  152. 
Sens6e,  128. 
Suzanne,  111. 
Sif^rok    16t 

Slate  Mountains,  11,  23,  151,  157. 
Soissons.  115,  122,  123,  130. 
Somme,  10,  25,  124,  129,  130,  135. 
Soonwald,  166. 
Speyer,  165. 
Ste.  Menehould,  99. 
Stenay,  82,  96. 
St.  Mihiel,  50,  88,  96. 
St.  Omer,  145,  148. 
St.  Quentin,  129,  132. 
St.  Val6ry-cn-Caux,  143. 
Straits  of  Dover,  7,  143. 
Strasbourg,  8,  55,  162. 
Suippe,  106. 
Sure,  167. 

Tablelands,  115,  121.  . 

Thiepval,  130. 

Thionvillc,  76,  80,  167,  168. 

Tides,  137,  142. 

Toul,  9,  48,  64,  72,  85,  89. 

Tourcoing,  145. 

Tournai,  145. 

Trees,  14. 

Treves,  168. 

Troyes,  10,  98,  104. 

Underfit  rivers,  87,  97,  100,  129. 
Upland  belts,  44-. 

First-   110-. 

Second-,  101-. 

Third-,  98-. 

Fourth-,  84-. 

Fifth-,  66-. 

Sixth-,  62-  80,  167. 

Seventh-  57-  162, 167. 

Eighth-,  56,  58,  59,  162. 

Val  de  I'Anc,  85,  86. 
ValeucienucH,  145,  146. 


174 


INDEX  OF  PLACE  NAMES 


Valois,  36,  114. 

Varennes-en-Argonne,  99. 

Verdun,  9,  48,  88,  89,  92,  93,  96. 

Versailles,  31. 

Vesle,  106. 

Vexin,  37-38,  133. 

V6zouse,  58,  64. 

Villages,  31,  70,  92,  105,  135. 

Vitry-le-Frangois,  98,  104,  114. 

Vosges,  8,  11,  23,  52,  157. 

Vouziers,  100. 


Wateringues,  146. 
Waterloo,  156. 
Weights,  20. 
Woevre,  49,  77,  82,  89. 
Worms,  165. 

Yeres,  32. 

Ypres,  145,  148,  150. 

Yser,  13,  148. 

Zeebrugge,  148,  150. 
Zweibriicken,  164. 


PBINTED  AT  THE  BABVARD  DNIVEB8ITT  PRESS,  CAMBBIOQE,  MASS.,  U.  8.  A. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

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